


A Dangerous Love

by begitalarcos



Series: Reaper Love [2]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Murder, Obsession, Sexual Content, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2017-12-13 13:07:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/begitalarcos/pseuds/begitalarcos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foyet has killed again, because he and Spencer are involved Reid is unable to work the Reaper case, and also still quite unaware his lover happens to BE the Reaper. When the truth comes out will their love bring them together or will one mans madness tear them apart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Honor Thy Mother

"Don't talk back to me you little faggot!" he's drunk again, not that it ever mattered… being drunk made it a little easier to run away from him, this wasn't one of those times.

A young boy hits his head hard on the linoleum floor of a small kitchen; his mother is standing at the sink doing dishes gripping a steak knife in the scalping water in her fist, with tears in her eyes as she listens to her sons pleading cries for help. Her husband is sitting on his chest hitting him in the face.

"Momma please!" He cries, the father looks up at her. She has her back turned to the scene and he leaves the boy behind to grope her and try and lift her skirt.

"Hank please." She squeaks only to be grabbed by the hair and thrown to the floor next to her son, who stares at her with blackened eyes and a bleeding lip.

"You want some?" Hank yells at her, she holds her arm up in front of her face shaking her head.

"Rather I'd take it out on the boy?" he says with a drunken smirk, she briefly looks over at her son whose expression is cold, eyes like dark amber that bore into her very heart. She gives the slightest of nods and breaks into tears. Her son barely hangs his head as his father laughs at his power over the broken family. As Hank stumbles towards the boy he quickly dodges his father's grasp and races for the front door but is pulled back by his shirt collar.

"Now we're gonna have an understanding boy." His father sneers turning his battered son of only nine years old to face his trembling mother.

"Come on Ellen… me and you are going for a ride." She stares into her son's eyes with fear and guilt painted on her face, but he is unmoved by her tears and looks away as he is shoved to the floor and forgotten while Hank takes Ellen by the arm and drags her to her feet.

"Stay outta trouble while we're gone boy or you'll be in for it." His son meets his father's gaze with hooded blackened eyes.

"Sir." He says through chapped and bloodied lips, the old man snorts as he and Ellen leave slamming the door behind them; the house smells of cigar smoke and burning toast.

"George!" his mother yells back to him as he opens the curtain to look out at them.

"George I'm sorry." She cries as her husband pushes her into the car and peels out of the driveway, George raises his head slightly as he watches the car disappear in the night and he smirks a bloody smile to himself knowing tonight will be the last time he ever sees his parents again.

-CM-

The sound of water sputtering out of a rusted faucet echoes throughout the old building, a scratched and filthy mirror hangs above it… it's an abandoned orphanage… blood drips and circles like red smoke into the rusted basin.

George breathed a shallow breath as he stared at himself through cracks in the mirror, shattered like his spirit had been… he was washing the blood from his knife and his gloves, the sky was a pale grey and he knew it wouldn't be long before all of Boston would be alerted to the foul deed he had committed in the early hours of the morning.

That made twenty two kills now, twenty four if he counted tampering with his parents car all those years ago which caused them to crash… though it was easy to blame his father for that, everyone in their small town had known he was a violent drunk and they all assumed that is how Hank and Ellen met their end. George growled at the thought of his mother, that last look on her face and those last words she said to him.

"Bitch!" Foyet yelled punching the already broken mirror, shards fell into the sink and his reflection stared up at him through bloody water, he shook his hand loose of mirror flecks and blood, his knuckle was bleeding now. Foyet stared at it wriggling his fingers watching the blood seep down the back of his hand. He brought it up to his face and sucked the wound clean spitting the blood out onto the floor his reflection looked like a maniacal demon gaping back at him, multiple faces with bloody teeth glared at him from inside the shattered mirror. Foyet ran his hand under the faucet a moment then shut it off shaking the excess water away. He strode over to one of the dingy, cracked windows and looked out at the city.

The street lamps were beginning to flicker off, and cars already were rushing people off to their destinations. Behind the old building George had parked his car inside a rusted out shed and covered it with a dirty sheet. No one ever came here, Foyet happened to have a key to the gate that had coiled razor wire above it. This had been his home before his adoptive parents had come for him, it hadn't been so bad… no one abused him… at least not the way he had been. The orphanage was run by nuns who were very strict and it was made known that the rules were never to be broken, which George learned time and again by receiving a swift whack with a meter stick from mother superior.

He was thirteen when he was adopted by the Foyet's, their son had died in an accident years before and they were attempting to the fill the void. George was different by that time, when he'd arrived he was careless and belligerent. Now with the guidance of his superior and his own amazing self-control he'd become the picture perfect son for any couple looking for a child to welcome home. Though if only they knew the rage that seethed below the surface they may have not been so eager to sign on the dotted line.

George watched as snow began to fall, he half smiled to himself as he watched the flakes flutter down to the ground. He wondered what Reid was doing, if he had slept and if he was happy to be with his friends. Something Foyet had never had… even as a child he'd been alone, his only playmates were things he tinkered with. He had a fascination with taking things apart and seeing what they looked like inside… very telling about his future undertakings really.

Foyet sighed sitting down on an old steel framed bed, the mattress was torn and its innards were sticking out. It didn't seem to concern George in the least as he lay down and began to instantly drift off to sleep with the thought of his young lover spinning through his mind.


	2. Dead Snow

Reid was awakened by the shuffling sound of Morgan hurriedly putting on his clothes and getting his shoes on.

"Morgan? What's up?" he asked groggily peering over at the clock it was early. Morgan stopped what he was doing, he rubbed the back of his neck and Reid sat up straight.

"What? What is it?" he asked, he knew something was wrong and part of him was hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.

"There's been a murder Reid." Derek said picking up his jacket, Spencer's eye widened

"Why didn't you wake me? Why didn't anyone tell me?" he sputtered getting out of the bed Morgan walked over to him with his hands up he put each hand on Reid's shoulder's trying to calm him.

"Reid you aren't on this case remember?" Reid pursed his lips as he stared at Morgan slowly sitting down before plunking himself hard back on the bed

"It's the Reaper isn't it…?" Derek gave a slight nod, he turned as he heard a gentle knock at the door and it was slowly pushed open, upon seeing Reid sitting on the bed in front of Morgan Emily entered the room.

"Reid…Hi." She said softly giving a weak smile; Spencer gave a tight lipped nod in her direction.

"You guys should get going." He said, Morgan looked back at Spencer who was scratching the back of his hand as he stared down at it.

"You gonna be ok kid?" Derek asked, Reid nodded

"Yeah don't worry about me, just go… work the case." He said a strain on the last words, he wanted desperately to help but at the same time was petrified he would be finding George disemboweled or something, and the fear of that kept him seated.

Rossi stepped into the doorway then

"Let's go you two." He said motioning with his hand, giving Reid a slight wave as he headed down the hall.

Emily turned after exchanging a nod with Derek and followed Rossi down the hall. Morgan turned back to Reid

"Whatever happens you know I'm here for you Reid." Spencer barely lifted his head at the comment; Morgan frowned as he pulled on his jacket.

"I'll keep you posted kid." And with that he was out the door and gone. Reid sat with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach; the room was barely lit from the light that shone against the heavy curtains that had been drawn shut. He looked up as he heard another knock at the door in the tune of "Shave and a Haircut"

"Reid Sweetie? You're not in your unmentionables are you?" Spencer grinned

"No Garcia come in." Penelope scooted into the room and shut the door behind herself and tip toed over to the bedside, she was dressed in a bright orange flowing skirt with a striped yellow blouse, her hair was pulled back with a bright orange bowtie at the back, she looked very retro as she sat down next to him and Reid yelped as she wrapped her arms around him tight.

"Ah Garcia what the…?" she gave him a squeeze before letting go, they looked at each other Reid very puzzled by the display of affection and Garcia looking worried but still very cute at the same time.

"Gimme your phone." She said putting her hand out, Reid was confused but as she shook her hand at him he reached over to the bedside where he had folded his clothes neatly and took the phone from the top of the pile, handing it to her.

"I kind of broke it." He said sheepishly, Garcia fiddled with it and popped the back out.

"Huh." She said looking it over

"Your screen's cracked is all, I'll fix it and have it back to you later." She put it back together swiftly and tucked in her pocket. Reid was still confused as to why she was in the room with him and not with the team.

"What?" she said, Reid was flustered a moment as she looked at him

"Nothing I just… why are you still here?" he stuttered, Garcia rolled her eyes

"Like I'm going to the icky stabby crime scene in the snow." Reid raised his eye brows but nodded at her words.

"Wait, it's snowing?" Garcia giggled

"Yes pumpkin it started this morning. Anyways I'm going to the station to set up why don't you come with me." Reid was more than confused now

"Hotch told me to stay away from this case." Garcia nodded staring up at the ceiling

"Yeah well you can assist me this morning then scram before everyone gets back." Reid didn't know how he felt about going against Hotch's orders, but he wanted to know what was going on with the case and if George was involved at all.

"So get dressed and lets Scooby Doo." Garcia squeaked as she rushed towards the door.

"Garcia." She turned and looked at Reid as she began to close the door

"Thank you." She smiled wide at him and shooed him with her hand as she closed the door. Spencer knew he could get into serious trouble if Hotch found him at Boston PD but the thought was far from his mind as he got dressed, all he wanted was to know if Foyet was safe.

-CM-

Hotch looked over the blood stained car, the coroner had already taken the bodies of Nina Hale and Evan Harvey to the morgue the crime scene investigators had taken photos and evidence now it was the BAU's turn at the scene.

"So the victims get a flat tire." Emily said

"Two flats." Derek said from the other side of the car. Emily rounded the back and looked herself.

"Well that can't be an accident." Hotch had his arms crossed as he stared at the large eye painted in blood on the driver's side door. Emily and Derek continued to look over various shots of the crime scene.

"So the killer stuns Evan, then comes over to the passenger's side and stabs Nina." Derek peered through the open passenger window at the blood pool in the seat.

"She was his main target, with forty six stab wounds he took his time." He said flatly, Prentiss nodded looking through the photo's still as she walked back to the other side of the car and continued.

"Then he finishes off Evan with a single gunshot, no shell casings left behind." She made a gun with her hands as she stared down at the bloody pool somewhat obscured now because of the snow that had wet the road.

"Tan line on the wrist." Derek said coming over to meet Emily showing her another photo of Nina

"She was wearing a watch." Emily nodded, Hotch still stood studying the car door he looked up as Emily flipped to a photo of Evan, it was a close up of his face covered in blood his toque still on and glasses perched sideways on his face. A cold chill went up Hotch's spine as he looked at it.

"Do we have his wallet?" he asked taking the photo from Emily and walking briskly over to one of the CSI's who nodded opening up a plastic bag and handing over the wallet, Hotch flipped it open and stared at Evan's license, he wasn't wearing glasses.

"Hotch what is it?" Morgan asked, Hotch looked at the blood pool on the ground

"The reaper would take items from the previous victim and place them on the next so that we knew it was him… there's no corrective lens requirement for Evan."

"So the glasses aren't his?" Prentiss asked coming over to look at the wallet, Hotch shook his head.

"No… and he only took glasses from one victim… the ninth." Morgan and Prentiss waited for Hotch to finish

"So they weren't on the tenth victim?" Hotch shook his head only once

"They were never found…" Emily exchanged a look with Derek

"What was so important about the ninth victim?" Hotch looked at her

"He survived." Morgan exhaled deeply placing his hands on his hips as he looked at the ground, Emily tried not to gasp but she couldn't help it

"Foyet." She said, Hotch nodded looking out at the crowd gathering behind the police tape he noticed the familiar face of Roy Colson he sighed and walked over to the SUV after handing the crime scene photo and wallet back to the CSI. Morgan and Prentiss watched him walk away neither knowing what to say.

-CM-

Garcia had fixed Reid's phone in a flash and after getting a makeshift system set up she shooed him out, but not without printing him a copy of the Reaper's victim history. It was like an impenetrable wall of people outside the station who were yelling and waving signs, the phone lines were buzzing with angry calls, the news chopper had been escorted away from the scene by a police copter but it was already all over the news that there had been a murder. JJ had been trying to float a story about a copycat but the media was having none of it and before long she ended up in the station after being pelted with rotten fruit.

As she cleaned off her blouse she was surprised to run into Reid who was on his way out of the station.

"Spence." She said startled, Reid was just as startled he hadn't expected JJ to be there

"What are you doing here?" Reid fished his mind for words

"Nothing?" he said very unconvincingly, JJ noticed a file under his arm and put her hand out not impressed at all, Reid pretended not to know what she was asking for but handed it over as she poked him in the chest.

"You're not supposed to be here." She said firmly shooting a look in Penelope's direction who proceeded to duck behind her computer screen, Reid stuffed his hands in his pockets looking around, JJ's expression softened then

"Reid…" she said taking him aside

"I know you want to help." Spencer rolled his eyes slightly

"Ok I'll save the pep talk, just go back to the hotel or something before Hotch see's you in here." Reid nodded

"Alright then." He said she squeezed his hand

"It's good to see you Spence… I wish it was under better circumstances." He nodded as she smiled painfully at him before he took his leave and exited the station through a side door away from the crowd. As he turned and walked down the alley he bumped into a reporter who proceeded to shove a microphone in his face.

"Are you working the Reaper case?" she asked, she was an Asian woman with black hair tied back tight, Reid shook his head without a word and she scurried past him and down the alley. Reid sighed deeply at the close call, he would never live it down if he was seen on television outside of the police station quickly he made his way through the alley and across the street, as he rounded the corner he could see the crowd yelling obscenities at the station, there were so many voices it was almost impossible to hear what everyone was saying. Clearly the city was angry with Shaunessy for making a deal with the Reaper, and now that there had been another murder they were whipped into an even angrier frenzy. A detective tried to break up the crowd with a bullhorn but no one seemed to budge.

"Please return to your homes." He repeated stating they would have to make arrests if people refused to leave the property, it was an empty threat though no matter how many residents of the city were arrested there would be countless more to replace them, angrily shouting and blaming the police for their failure to capture the Boston Reaper.

Elsewhere the news had finally reached George, and he marvelled at the damage he'd created with two dead bodies and an old promise. he had walked back to one of his apartments, the one where he was known as "Miles Holden"he knew Agent Hotchner would soon make the connection between the glasses left at the scene and Foyet himself, so he was waiting for the barrage of questions he knew would follow. He'd seen Roy Colson poking around and also was very aware if Reid didn't tell Hotch where to find him that Roy would, and this was the one residence he had let Colson know of.

It stung in the back of his mind the pain he must be causing Spencer right now, not knowing where he was must have hurt him, and not working the case must be just as hard. George rustled his hair and rubbed his eyes placing his glasses back on his face, his chest began to ache and he made his way over to the kitchen sink, taking a pill bottle from the cupboard and shaking some meds into his hand. Quickly he downed them with a glass of water flexing his hand into a fist and out again. The pain his old wounds caused him seared beneath his flesh and ground out thoughts of malice in his memory. He knocked his fist against the counter top cursing at his own inflicted pain, the pain of his own existence. He felt an aching in his heart, for Spencer more than anything. The feeling of his fingertips, the smell of his skin, the way his hair fell perfectly framing his face… his piercing chestnut eyes…

George shook his head and banged his fists against his forehead trying to purge the thoughts from his mind, there were other things he had to get straight in his mind and Reid was not something he needed clouding his head right now.

There was a hard knock at the door, that made Foyet turn suddenly.

-CM-

"Come in." Morgan entered and was immediately caught off guard, he noticed Reid's suitcase packed and his jacket folded over the case. His hotel bed was made and the room tidy.

"Where are you going?" he asked, Reid was still cleaning up some of the room even though there was a service for that he always felt bad leaving a mess for others. Morgan walked over to Reid putting a hand on his shoulder, Spencer looked up at him.

"Home…" he said plain as day, Derek was taken aback.

"Reid, you don't have to leave Boston." Reid brushed Derek's hand off his shoulder

"Yes I do." He said walking back over to his suitcase, he undid the zippers then rezipped them counting each one as he did so. Morgan crossed his arms.

"Is this about Foyet?" he asked, Reid briefly stopped at the name but continued checking his suitcase to make sure it was secure.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing." Derek walked over but Reid stopped him by swiftly pointing in his direction

"Don't ok." He stated firmly, Morgan looked perplexed

"I'm not going to stay here and wait for him to die, I have to leave or I will do something I'll regret." Morgan looked at Reid intensely

"Like what?" he asked, visibly worried but intrigued. Reid's eyes looked hard and glassy like marbles.

"I'll kill someone." He said flatly attaching a lock to his suitcase and hoisting it up, he threw his jacket over his arm and picked up his leather satchel walking past Derek and out the door, Morgan could only stand there in silence at a complete loss of words.


	3. Tell me your Secrets

Reid stood in the airport staring up at the flight schedules. Hotch and Rossi hadn't come back to the hotel, neither did JJ or Garcia so Reid was left to sort of explain his reasons for leaving Boston to Morgan and Prentiss which was just as awkward as their conversation in the SUV some weeks ago. Right now Reid was trying to decide where he should go, he had received a call on the way to the airport from his mother's doctor. She'd had an episode and was asking for him refusing treatment for wounds she had caused during her outburst. Her doctor was adamant about Spencer coming to see her in her time of need, but Reid wasn't so sure his head was in the right place to be around his mother now. Though as he reached the front desk he found himself booking a flight for Las Vegas instead of Virginia and soon after boarding a plane.

He'd booked himself first class only to avoid screaming children and noisy tourists, his head was pounding he felt like his eyes might explode inside of his head they hurt so much.

"Warm towel?" the stuartist asked, Reid hadn't even noticed her there holding a steaming towel in a pair of tongs next to him.

"Thank you." He said taking it from her and promptly placing it over his eyes, the moist fabric seared away some of the throbbing pain in his eyes, they felt like hard balls of ice now sitting inside his aching skull, he tried not to think about George or the Reaper case as he attempted to relax thankful he had a seat to himself, first class was a bit empty which was nice, he could hear some racket coming from coach but ignored it as best he could and tried to get some much needed rest.

-CM-

"Did he say anything to you about Foyet?" Derek bounced his knee as he sat in the lobby across from Emily

"Not really." He said, Emily sighed scratching her forehead.

"I wish there was something we could do for him." She began scratching her thumb nail, Derek nodded slightly. Looking out the window at cars passing in the snowy streets, the snow had picked up in the past half hour and big lazy flakes blew down from the sky.

"Maybe this is better." Morgan said quietly, Emily turned her head to the side slightly mulling over his words, and nodding her head to herself.

"I guess." She shivered at the breeze let into the lobby as JJ and Garcia came in, Penelope rustled her long yellow and red scarf from snow.

"Jinkies! I was so not prepared for this weather." She said rustling her hair free from snowflakes, JJ smiled at her then turned her attention to Derek and Emily who sat not far from the main door; they both looked as if they were carrying a heavy load on their minds and JJ could only sigh.

"What happened now?" she asked clearly dreading the answer, Morgan crossed his foot over his knee and put out his hand as to let Emily explain, who turned to meet JJ and now Garcia's concerned faces.

"Reid left." She said, Garcia was the first to pop her eyes open wide and express her distress

"What? Where? Where's he left to? I mean where'd he go?" she said correcting herself, JJ rolled her eyes.

"As long as its home I don't think it matters, there's nothing for him to do here and I'm sure that's a huge stress for him." Derek curled up his lips nodding slightly but Emily wasn't so sure that was a just answer.

"I dunno you guys, as before I just don't feel right." Derek groaned as he stood up.

"There's not much we can do now Emily, he's gone… again." And with that he walked out of the lobby and outside, Garcia scooted after him as he had gone out in the snow without a jacket on. JJ and Emily exchanged pained looked at each other.

"Derek Morgan what do you think you are doing?" Penelope scolded as she put her home made harry potter scarf on Morgan's shoulders, Derek smiled but a little.

"It's nothing new baby girl." He said silently, she clung to his arm rubbing the other one to keep it warm.

"Oh my babies." She said with a twinge of sadness

"I know it's hard for everyone keeping Reid out of the loop, but let's try and be his rock for when he really needs us. Who knows what's going to happen personally I'd rather not know, and I bet Reid feels the same way right now." Derek squeezed Garcia's hand as she smiled up at him

"Your right," he said his breath circling into the air like smoke "I just worry about the kid is all." Garcia patted his arm

"The kids a grown ass man my dear, remember that." She said as she turned and went back into the hotel rubbing her hands together for warmth, Derek watched her through the glass wringing her hands next to JJ who had gotten some coffee from someone at the front desk, the three girls stood inside in a huddle drinking from their small Styrofoam cups. Morgan shivered rubbing his arms as he too went back into the hotel, he hoped Hotch and Rossi were getting something they could work with, they had gone to see Foyet after getting an address from Roy Colson the reporter.

Derek could only hope when they returned the news would be something of use.

-CM-

"How did you guys find me?" George asked wincing slightly placing his hand on his side, his scars burned beneath his skin.

"Roy Colson." Hotch said, Foyet looked strangely surprised as he moved from the doorway to let the agents into the small apartment, they obliged and walked past him into the kitchen.

"Is this going to take long?" George asked "I really can't be late for work."

"What do you do?" Hotch asked, George feigned a smile

"Freelance computer work for the city." He answered

"We're sorry to bother you; we'll make this as quick as possible." Rossi said

"Well ok… what can I do for you?" Foyet asked shuffling past Dave and sitting down in one of the kitchen chairs, Hotch didn't waste much time as he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the bagged pair of glasses and handed them to Foyet, whose eyes widened.

"Do you recognise these?" Aaron asked, knowing full well the answer already painted on George's face.

George just stared at the pair of old glasses in Hotch's hand; slowly he took them in his own and continued to stare at them.

"How could I forget…" he said softly, Rossi and Hotch exchanged glances as George winced again and cleared his throat before beginning to cough. Dave went to the sink and got him a glass of water which Foyet thanked him for.

Aaron watched George hang his head, resting his chin on his hand as he sat at the table one knee shaking.

"I'm sorry." He said "I loved Mandy so much, I wanted to propose to her that night even though we'd only been seeing each other a short time but I got cold feet, the ring was still in my pocket when he approached us, he said he was lost… he had one of those sightseeing booklets I was looking at it when he stabbed me." Dave walked up to Foyet

"Mr. Foyet you don't have to go through this again..." Foyet cut him off continuing his story, his hands shaking in his lap as he spoke

"I couldn't move…" he said looking up at Aaron "I just sat there bleeding… and I watched him kill Mandy." He said covering his mouth and burying his face in his hands a moment. Hotch felt his heart ache and his stomach knot at George's story.

"I never found the ring…" Foyet said into his hands, Rossi turned his eyes to meet Hotch's but his superior was still gazing at Foyet who sat crumpled in the kitchen chair in front of him.

"He should have left the glasses on the tenth victim but he didn't, we only found them this morning… on a new victim." George sat up straight in his chair at Aaron's words; he looked from one agent to the other then at the floor rubbing his knee with his palm

"So you think maybe he has some special interest in me or something?" he asked sarcastically, he looked up at Hotch who studied Foyet's face

"I've lived with that possibility for the past eleven years." He said with annoyance getting up and giving the glasses back to Hotch he walked over to the kitchen window and stared out, Hotch was at a loss for words which Rossi noticed so he stepped over to Foyet

"Have you received any strange calls? Hang ups?" George shook his head

"I keep residences in different names, I move between them randomly, I have multiple phone numbers and I take the bus… because he likes to get you in your car." Rossi nodded stiffly

"Believe me agent I've gone to great lengths to make sure none of the things you've mentioned ever happen." Rossi reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small notepad and pencil.

"We'll need you to give us your other names and residence's so we can keep in touch with you." He said handing the notepad to George who looked down at it.

"We can take you some place safe if you like until this is over." Hotch said, Foyet looked over at him.

"No." he said flatly "Roy Colson may have betrayed my trust and given you this address but I'm not giving up everything again, how is anyone supposed to be safe with the police making deals with this guy… what if he is a police officer?" Dave looked at Aaron bewildered but intrigued by the thought of the Reaper being a member of the police.

"That's your choice Mr. Foyet." Dave said turning back to George "But we believe it would be in your best interest to let us help you." George averted his eyes from Dave and turned them to Aaron who was already looking at him.

"You can't help me." He said "Nobody can help me."

Hotch felt like a brick landed in the pit of his stomach, without George's co-operation they may have nothing to go one, especially with the Reaper having left George's glasses behind like a neon lighted beacon stating he was definitely interested in Foyet still.

George made his way over to the front door and opened it.

"I have to go to work now, so if you don't mind." He looked down at the floor as Rossi and Hotch exchanged looks and made their way outside but as Foyet went to close the door Hotch turned

"Foyet." He said, George looked at him through the crack in the door

"Is this about Reid? do you think he's in danger." George knit his brow his eyes seemed to burn into Aaron who immediately backed off as the older man slowly closed the door. Aaron listened as the dead bolt latched shut and he heard the squeal of the curtains being pulled shut. Rossi put a hand on his shoulder startling him and they both walked out of the building

George watched them leave through the peep hole of the door, he knocked his head against the door as he had been doing for most of that day.

'Spencer in danger from me?' He though with disgust, he took off his glasses and walked over to the bedroom lying down on the bed. The very words made him angry and he felt his fist clench his finger nails into his palm, he wondered where Reid was and now that agent Hotchner has said it he wondered if it was best that he didn't know.


	4. What Shouldn't I do

Reid felt awkward standing outside the isolation room, his mother had had an episode that her doctor was not quite sure how it had even started. Apparently she'd had a dream or a bad feeling and then was convinced of something she refused to share but it was about Spencer, that much her doctor was able to extract from all her inane babbling. Two orderly's stood outside the door, they had been able to give Mrs. Reid a mild sedative with some fighting but she was calmer now, Reid peered into the tiny window box. It was two way glass so she couldn't see him, she was scratching the padding on the wall, making shapes and words the impressions stayed only a moment before the material reshaped itself.

"Can I see her?" he asked the doctor who stood behind him clutching a clip board to his chest.

"We'd like to restrain her… for her own safety." Reid instinctually said no to the statement.

"I'll fix this just let me see her." He stated firmly the doctor nodded at the orderly's and they slowly opened the door, within seconds Spencer found himself being embraced by his mother as she flew through the open door wrapping her arms around him. Reid held onto her and put a hand up to the doctor who moved forward.

"Mom its ok." He said stroking her hair; she clung to him like a kitten on a tree limb.

"Why don't we go to your room?" Diana Reid looked wildly from the orderly's to the doctor then back at her son.

"It's ok mom." He said "Let's go to your room." She nodded and they walked together down the hallway followed slowly by her doctor and the orderly's.

When Reid was finally able to extract himself from his mother's grip and get her to sit on her bed he began to examine the wounds she'd created, she had nail marks near her neck and a bite mark on the back of her hand.

"Mom you need to get these looked at."

"I know I know." She said pulling her hand away from Spencer, Reid looked concerned but also put out as he exchanged a look with his mother's doctor who stood near the doorway

"What happened?" he asked turning back to her, She scratched behind her ear nervously then upon noticing something she moved her hand over Reid's hair to reveal his scar.

"When did this happen?" she asked, Reid went to move her hand away but she slapped his hand down.

"Spencer you tell me who did this!" she demanded, Reid moved back slightly and she let her hand fall into her lap.

"It's alright mom, I'm fine really." She looked unconvinced

"I knew something happened to you Spencer, I had this horrible feeling and now here you are and you're hurt, tell me what happened!" she said firmly and with tears welling in her eyes. Reid took her hands in his own and took a deep breath

"I was shot during a case, there wasn't any real damage so don't worry." She looked over his face her expression was cheerless.

"Oh I'll kill the bastard." She said, Reid laughed lightly

"It's a bit too late for that." He said, she looked at him a bit wide eyed and he nodded

"I didn't mean to but he shot first." She gave one stiff nod and hugged him close patting his back

"That's my boy." She said, Reid sighed as he hugged her back as she let go he looked her over again

"Mom I want you to let your doctor help you, get some rest and we can talk about everything later ok?" she didn't seem happy with her sons order but she nodded. Reid smiled at her.

"I'll be back in a few hours I promise." She finally smiled weakly back at him

"Alright sweetheart." She said giving him a wink which he returned and stepped away towards the doorway, her doctor made his way into the room and immediately began looking over her wounds a nurse followed in soon after and they began tending to Diana as she sat calmly and patiently. Reid sighed and walked down the hallway, he listened to the sounds of people being read to, crying and the hum of florescent lights above him. He was glad he could help his mother, being somewhere else and not having to face the reality of the situation in Boston was a slight comfort even though he knew he'd have to go back and face a horror or two at some point… whether he liked it or not.

-CM-

George pocketed two wedding rings and began attaching Nina Hale's watch to an elderly woman's wrist. He'd shot her in the face along with stabbing and shooting her husband who sat dead in the driver's seat. Foyet adjusted the zipper on his jacket, he was wearing a police uniform he'd stowed away, it was the only way he was able to randomly stop a car, that and the police motorcycle helped. Over the years he'd become somewhat of a hoarder for random things he thought may help him in the future, storing it all in the abandoned orphanage's basement, he was also lucky there was a loading ramp in the back, the old building must have been something else before it was bought and turned into an orphanage he supposed a grocery store. It would explain why there were so many freezers in its basement.

As he randomly thought about it he put his gloved hand in one of the deep stab wounds he'd created on the old man and began to paint his calling card on the hood of the beige colored car. He shook his hand free of blood and moments later he was driving in the opposite direction to go and hide his disguise. It somewhat annoyed Foyet that he had already gone out and killed again, although he wanted to he had only gone out a few hours after agent Hotchner and Rossi had visited him, the words Aaron had spoken to him prickled in the back of his mind and he'd become so agitated he had no other outlet to deal with his rage other than to slaughter some random people he'd come across within an hour of disguising himself.

Maybe it was careless but he had taken precautions to make sure otherwise, he decided when he got back to the orphanage he would be giving agent Hotchner a much overdo phone call.

-CM-

It wasn't long after Hotch and Rossi got back to the hotel that they'd discovered Reid had left, he didn't answer his phone either. From what they knew he had gone back to Virginia he had told Morgan so that was as much as they could figure. It hadn't been long before they were alerted to another murder by one of the detectives. The Reapers cooling off period was less than none. Four murders in two days was a bit much, Hotch had supposed he was making up for lost time, as he was getting himself together his hotel phone rang, Hotch stared at it briefly then back at the hotel door. As it kept ringing he decided he should answer it.

"Agent Hotchner." He said waiting for a response, when it came he was less surprised than he thought he'd be

"If you stop hunting me… I'll stop hunting them." Aaron knit his brow holding the receiver tightly in his hand; he felt his palm begin to sweat.

"I don't make deals with serial killers." He said back, he heard a brief laugh the voice was garbled by some kind of voice scrambler.

"I'm the guy who catches scum like you." Aaron said, the laugh wasn't there this time "I will catch you." He said there was a thick silence

"Last chance…" came the words, Aaron could feel his stomach knotting and he grit his teeth.

"No deal." He said back

"Your choice…" came the voice, Hotch heard a click and the Reaper was gone. He growled to himself and raced out of the room and into the lobby where the team was waiting for him.

"Let's go." He said and they all hurried out to the SUV's

-CM-

Visiting hours were more than past by the time Reid came back to see his mother, the nurse at the desk let him in with a buzz that unlocked the door and latched itself shut behind him. He was met by an orderly who explained to him that his mother had eaten and rested, she was treated for her wounds and was back on her medication so she was much more lucid than before. Reid thanked him and entered his mother's room; she was sitting up in her bed reading as she usually had been. Even when Reid was a child she would be doing just that, lying in bed with a stack of books on the floor and at the end of the bed… reading. As she noticed him she smiled slightly and put a bit of paper between the pages of her book and set it down on her lap.

"Feeling better?" Reid asked, she nodded lightly

"Yes much better thank you." He couldn't help but smile at her as he sat down on the edge of the bed. She was looking at his scar again and he fought the urge to move his hair over it. She put a hand out and stroked the side of his face seeing in his eyes the embarrassment and shame.

"You're alright?" she asked, Reid nodded

"I'm more worried about you, what happened?" she sighed leaning back into the head board staring up at the ceiling

"I had this terrible feeling I couldn't shake… followed by nightmares until inevitably I lost it." She seemed so much like she used to when he was young and had pretended he was unaware of her mental health issues.

"I was frightened for you." She said clutching her book in her hands; Reid was puzzled he moved his hair over his scar as he looked at her.

"Mom I'm okay, getting shot at tends to happen in this field of work." She gave him a raised eyebrow and rolled her eyes

"You could have told me something happened Spencer." He shook his head

"Then what? You'd be convinced your bad feeling was a premonition or something, it's a coincidence is all."

"I know all about precognition Spencer." She said with bite "Second sight is a real thing you know, the woman down the hall knows things before they happen all the time." Spencer sighed

"The woman down the hall has a room next to the nurses' station mom… she probably overhears things and repeats them later." Diana groaned putting her hands up

"I should know better than to argue with you, your far to analytical about things." Reid laughed.

"I learned that from you." She couldn't help but laugh then also. They sat there a while before she spoke again

"So who is it?" Reid was confused by her statement, she moved his hair out of the way again and fingered his scar, he moved back from her as she did so

"Who took care of that." She asked again, Reid was perplexed as to how she would know someone took care of him, although even though he had always been obsessive with getting things right he would always cry and come home to her with a scraped knee or a bloody nose. He got better at fixing himself up after she had gone to the hospital but Reid was also bullied less, he was out of school which helped that matter more than anything.

"A friend." His mother looked at him waiting for him to continue, Reid's eyes darted around the room trying to avoid her stare.

"What kind of friend." She asked, Reid felt like a teenager whispering at the back of the bus he blushed and she hummed smiling back at him.

"That's nice sweetheart." She said with love in her voice, Reid sighed which made Diana's smile melt away to a look of concern.

"Tell me about this friend, who is he?" Reid couldn't keep that secret from his mother, she knew he had been interested in more than just girls he had no idea how she knew his 'friend' wasn't a girl though. Maybe there was something to that precognition thing.

"His name is George and… he lives in Boston." She nodded still unsure as to why her son's words seemed so sad.

"Why aren't you there with him?" she asked, Reid looked up at her

"The truth is… I'm not allowed to be, because of work… and because he's in danger." She didn't react to his words like anyone else would, she looked intrigued instead of surprised as she nodded allowing Reid to continue.

"We were working a case and I stayed with him after this happened." He brushed his hair away revealing his scar as she continued to nod

"He's a survivor of a horrible incident… the killer wasn't caught because the police made a deal with him almost ten years ago… but now he's back and I'm not allowed to be there to help because of my relationship with George… the only survivor of the killer." His mother patted his hand

"That's convenient." Reid was confused by her words

"Convenient how?" he asked, his mother smiled back at him

"You meet George, you get hurt, he takes care of you, you find out he's been hurt years ago, then out of nowhere the killer returns and you get sent away." Reid was still puzzled by her words, it sounded different how she recounted his story in point form, it did sound strange to him now but he didn't know what it meant.

"So what does that mean?" he asked her, she shook her head

"I don't claim to know my dear, that just sounds fishy to me is all." Reid studied her face as she did his

"You think George is involved somehow?" she sighed patting Reid's hand again

"Honey it doesn't matter what I think, it matters what you do now." Reid felt his head start to ache again at the base of his skull as strange thoughts began clouding his mind. The orderly knocked on the door and they both turned. It was time for Reid to go.

"Do you want me to come back tomorrow?" he asked she shook her head.

"I'm fine; you go home now… think about things." Reid hugged her and she patted his back telling him she was proud of him. Reid himself didn't feel so proud right now, as he exited her room and left the building bizarre ideas and scenarios played through his head, the lock on the basement door, the broken blade on the floor, the disposable phone and the late nights. The thoughts were physically hurting his heart as they swirled below the surface and when the very essence of his mother's words seeped into him he couldn't bear it… he couldn't believe it… George couldn't be involved with the Reaper.


	5. Blades & Shards

Spencer sat staring straight ahead; his mind was a broken puzzle of crazy right now. Everything that had happened between him and George, the team and now his mother. He was at the point where he didn't even want to deal with people anymore for as long as was feasibly possible. He'd booked a quick flight this time riding coach, the flight was stopping halfway in Virginia on its way to another destination. It was the only one he could get onto that was going the same day, after he had finished talking with his mother there was nothing more that Reid wanted than to be at home in his own apartment, knowing no one else would be there made the idea of going home that much more desirable.

After many hours of meditating through screaming children, hacking seniors and yacking middle aged women Reid was finally in Virginia and able to get the hell off of that god forsaken plane. He hailed a cab and rode towards home past Foggy Bottom and Van Ness till he reached his apartment complex, Reid sighed heavily as he gazed at the stairs that circled their way up to higher floors.

He then began the trek up to the third floor, he rounded the corner at the top and walked down the hallway finally stopping at the large brown door that was his apartment he unlocked two dead bolts and the main lock counting aloud each lock as he opened it, when the locks were undone and the door finally opened Reid clonked his suitcase down hard on the floor and shut it, he relocked the door once again counting as he locked it and then proceeded to sit down hard on the floor, groaning as he did so.

Within an instant he found himself sobbing into his hands, uncontrollably weeping and not caring at all how he looked or sounded. He carried such a weight in his heart right now, loving George but now being so unsure about his involvement with the Reaper case. He was angry with himself for assuming things, he never did that… he always clarified everything but doubting the facts felt so stupid. And what facts were there? So many to place George hand in hand with the Reaper… or make him the Reaper himself. But why? Reid didn't want to think about it, the thoughts screamed into his very soul. He wanted so desperately to believe otherwise.

Reid sobbed loudly into his jacket sleeve and hyperventilated a minute trying to calm himself. He took a few deep breaths, his lips quivering all the while. Tears still streamed down his face as he tried to collect all his thoughts into some kind of an order. He clenched his jaw and shut his eyes tight making a list in his head.

Lock on the basement door, locks on back and front gate of white house

Over read copy of "Night of the Reaper"

Hiding the car beneath a tarp

Metal and plastic fragments in the basement

Refusal to lend personal phone and has disposable phones handy

Clothing in bags still

Multiple residents and fake names

Issues with control and anger

Late and all night work hours

No apparent laptop but works doing freelance computer work for the city

Reid pounded the sides of his head at all the facts he could recount about George and his mother's words echoed inside him… everything so clearly was adding up to George "being" the Reaper but there was one glaring problem with it… George himself. The Reaper was essentially a predator who would kill anyone, overkill them for that matter. He seemed disinterested in men and fixated on younger women as victims, he was obsessive, meticulous and incredibly clever… so why in all this would George expose himself the way he had to Reid. He knew full well that Spencer was a member of the BAU, why would he willingly stick around knowing that he would be found out, arrested or even killed?

Reid felt his head splitting inside; his mind was fractured by his own emotions. He so desperately wanted to believe differently about George but the facts were quickly stacking up against him, they couldn't be a coincidence… Reid kicked off his shoes and pushed himself to stand up he undid his jacket and threw it to the floor walking in the direction of his bathroom stripping off his clothes as he went. By the time he was there he had nothing on. He turned the faucets on the tub and sat down, the cool water immediately touched his feet and he closed his eyes at the chilling sensation. He adjusted the taps and leaned back after putting in the plug.

The warm water ebbed away the tension from his legs as it slowly grew around him, Reid pulled up his hands and ran them over his face the warm water stung as he washed away the tears that pained him. As he sat there watching the water rise his eyes continuously deviated to his razor sitting next to him, he usually shaved when he sat in his bath tub he just found it an easier clean up than using his sink. He stared at it then before picking it up and pulling out one of the blades. He turned it over and over between his fingers without a thought in his mind as the water continued to rise. Within a moment he raised the blade up and with one tug and a swift motion he cut.

-CM-

George's hands were shaking he was holding a fragment of mirror squeezing it in his hand and watching the blood that pooled on the shard drip off and onto the floor. He'd killed two young girls that night as well as an older couple, he'd done it out of pure rage towards Aaron Hotchner, he hated when people tried to throw their weight around. And agent Hotchner was one of those people. It reminded him of the way his father would gloat his power and standing over him as a child which made him that much more enraged.

"I'm the guy who catches scum like you." The words spoken by the agent boiled in Foyet's blood. He had never killed so soon again after a murder and even though he was careful he still was angry with himself for letting his emotions overtake his better judgement. He was certain that the BAU would try to focus on him again in an effort to flush out the Reaper… and he knew he would be vulnerable, his identity would be vulnerable and that was something he could not have. Right now he was once again pent up in his emotions and his conscience had gotten the better of him, rather… Spencer was on his mind again, and how the things he had done would make him surely lose Reid forever…

It was something he had been attempting to come to terms with, that he and Reid may not see each other again and Foyet had told himself it didn't matter. That Reid was a phase and a distraction he had needed only for a time, but the longer he was away from his young lover the more his heart ached with loneliness… here he was now contemplating ending his own life over the thought of never seeing Reid again… touching his skin, kissing his lips and drowning in his desire to bed him once more. Foyet dropped the mirror fragment and watched it shatter into pieces on the floor, his reflection gazing back at him through fractured shards of glass and drops of blood that stippled the floor beneath him.

George looked into his hand and fingered the wound he'd created, he licked the blood from his palm and sighed heavily… perhaps he just needed to sleep on things…

-CM-

Spencer watched as his hair fell down into the tub, he then began tugging at large strands and sawing them away with the razor blade until he sat with his long hair all around him. He leaned forward and turned off the water, scooping up the hair in his hand and shaking it off onto the bath mat. It had been a long time since he had felt the back of his neck be bare and exposed. He continued to cut strands, pulling at long curled locks and slicing them from his head and tossing them to the floor. When he was finally done his hair was significantly shorter, he had kept it a bit longer on top and would have to clean it up but he somehow felt much better. He tugged on the plug and stood turning his bath into a shower then. He placed the razor blade on the side of the tub and began running his fingers through his butchered hair.

His neck and back itched with bits of hair that clung to him before washing down into the tubs drain, the water was still around his ankles as it slowly receded, clumps of hair blocked the drain making it harder for the water to escape. Reid pushed some of it away with his foot as a long drawn out suction noise filled his ears he closed his eyes and let the water rush over him, the warm water was inviting it was snowing in Virginia as well now and the lazy flakes fluttered down from the dark colored sky.

When finally he felt warm and comfortable enough to leave the sanctity of his wondrous shower Reid turned off the water and stepped out, he ran a towel over himself and rustled it through what was left of his hair. For not having a mirror he hadn't done too badly. He had always cut his own hair; he pulled open a drawer near the sink and took out an electric razor. He trimmed up the sides and the back with another mirror he held. When he was satisfied he swept the hair from his shoulders and stowed the razor away once again. Reid turned his head from side to side looking at what he had done, he approved. It had been a very long time since he had had short hair but it felt nice to be somewhat different. He felt different emotionally so now he matched physically. Reid decided to leave the mess until the morning, not even bothering to dress he walked into his room and laid down on the bed, the soft bed felt so good beneath him as he curled up underneath his feather blanket. He sighed deeply as he lie there under the covers even though he knew somehow his lover was either connected to the Reaper or possibly the Reaper himself… George was the only person on Spencer's mind… and he missed him terribly as he drifted off to sleep.


	6. Sex, Blood & Suspicions

The team sat around a crowded table covered in papers, photographs and boxes of ten year old evidence, amongst all that were empty coffee cups and Chinese food containers. Garcia was putting in eye drops before going back to her computer, she was looking for a link between victims and the area's they were found in, JJ was on the phone with Will, Rossi was going over old case files, Prentiss and Morgan were sitting on a couch looking over Foyet's recounting of events while Hotch was standing looking at a white board that was covered in images of the Reapers victims. Everyone was very tired and even with six new victims they had nothing to go on, bodies could only tell so much and all six of them told the same story. The men were not as important as the women who were overkilled, but why were the women the targets? Or was it simply meant to look this way? Were the men the real target? The team had exhausted so many ideas and possible scenarios… what they really needed was a witness but they only one they had didn't want to co-operate with them… now Hotch was wishing Reid was here, at least then maybe he could recount things Foyet had said to him in private about the Reaper.

Aaron hated to think that way but things were getting ridiculous, though they had done their best to quell the anger in the residents of Boston the murders going unpunished by a killer who was faceless to them only made the citizens more hostile. Though everyone was tired Hotch didn't feel comfortable leaving until they had something, any viable lead they could scrape out of all the information that had been left from ten years ago and the present murders.

"Ooh." Everyone turned saying what at the same time, Garcia looked around

"Uh… I found something sort of interesting." The team all got up from what they were doing and gathered around. Garcia felt a little weird about that but continued none the less.

"Well I was comparing the recent murders to the old murders and there really is no rhyme or reason to the Reaper kill pattern... cause there kinda is none, its literally all over the place." JJ groaned

"We already knew that Penelope." Garcia waved her hand at JJ in protest

"That's not the sorta interesting part." JJ rolled her eyes and listened, Garcia pointed to a dot on the screen

"A couple of weeks ago I tracked Reid's cell phone in this area, this is area is only a few miles from the spot where the two girls were killed." Hotch had his arms crossed as he listened for a point to everything, Morgan beat him to the question though

"Why were you tracking Reid's cell phone?" Garcia gave a guilty frown

"Well Mr. grumpy pants after you and Emily got all weird I too felt a little wiggy about things so I decided to keep tabs on our Dr. Reid." the team all gathered around to see the screen, Garcia pointed out places she had tracked Reid's phone on the map they were all in three general areas. He hadn't been making any calls but his phone's GPS had been on.

"What does that even prove?" Derek asked

"Reid was with Foyet." Hotch said holding his elbow, his hand at his chin.

"The Reaper knows where Foyet is…" Garcia nodded

"If the Reaper was around this whole time Reid could have seen him even, who knows." She added, JJ shook her head

"No way if there was anyone suspicious Spencer would have said or done something about it, he's not that trusting of strangers." Rossi shrugged

"Trusting enough to stay with Foyet before he knew who he was according to you guys." He said pointing at Emily who nodded exchanging a look with Derek who groaned

"So ok, Reid was obviously seen by the Reaper, therefore Foyet's most likely in trouble right?" Hotch wasn't so sure

"But why is he so fixated on Foyet? What's so special about him?" Emily looked over

"Well he survived that might be reason enough to want to kill him." Derek shook his head

"If the Reaper was waiting out Shaunessy he could have killed Foyet at any time, why wait? And why is he still alive now after six other people have been killed?" they were ending up with more questions than answers again.

"We need to talk to Foyet again." Rossi said looking at Hotch

"I'll go with you." Morgan added

"No." was Hotch's immediate response, Derek looked at him

"Why not?" Hotch put a hand up trying to calm Derek who already looked annoyed

"I made the mistake of mentioning Reid to Foyet and he clammed up, you're likely to do the same we should send someone else." JJ and Emily looked at each other

"Hotch we all care about Reid we can't not talk to Foyet because of that." Hotch nodded in agreement

"Ok Prentiss you go then." Emily felt a little sick being offered up to go, she remembered the look George had given her in the hospital and it still made her feel creeped out. But she accepted.

"I don't know if he'll be at the apartment Colson showed us so try driving around these two areas." Hotch said pointing out the tracked phone spots Reid had been in.

"It's pretty late do you think it's a good idea for us to be driving around…" Garcia stood up straight suddenly at Emily's words

"They'll be Reaper bait!" she said much too loud, Hotch covered one of his ears slightly as Garcia straightened her skirt and sat back in her chair.

"Sorry sir." She said trying to better compose herself

"No your right, we'll wait until tomorrow." Garcia breathed a sigh of relief as did Prentiss. She didn't want to face George any more than the possibility of facing the Reaper tonight, she was too damn tired.

"At least we have something now; we'll try and talk to Foyet in the morning." Everyone agreed and the group began to pack up to head back to the hotel. Hopefully after a good night sleep they would be better off in their ventures come the morning.

-CM-

Reid lay awake tracing the letter "G" over and over onto his sheet as he lay under the blanket, he'd opened the window part way through the night and never fallen back asleep. The sky was growing gray as dawn was nearing. Snow blew around in whirling patterns past the window and fluttered the curtains. Reid hadn't slept very well anyways due to all the assumptions swimming around his brain, he'd decided not to talk to the team about any of it. Especially if it were true.

That thought in itself bothered him more than he knew, that if George really were a serial killer Spencer would want to keep that from everyone. Why? He had continuously asked himself that question for over an hour now, the simple answer was because he loved George. He knew if George was found a killer they would never see each other again, and if they did it would be from behind glass walls while talking through telephone receivers… even then Foyet probably wouldn't get that much with all the murders he'd be sealed away somewhere and studied. Thinking about that hurt Reid's head, he would have to leave the BAU, he himself would be subjected to hate and be humiliated by the media for his relationship with a well-known killer… that was if people told about the world about he and George.

The whole scenario made Spencer feel sick to his stomach, more so than the fact he may be sleeping with a serial killer. For an odd reason that didn't bother him as much as it should, which was quite terrifying, he wondered if that could be Stockholm syndrome? But that couldn't be it, he hadn't been held against his will like he had when Tobias had kidnapped him and Reid definitely didn't have a thing for Henkel. So why was this different? The thoughts were plaguing him from sleep, his eyelids felt heavy and he shivered slightly from the wind that whistled through his open window.

His bedroom was cool now, the air fresh and crisp as it flowed freely through the curtains. Reid pulled the blankets off of his head, gathering them up around himself and walked over to shut the window, he looked down into the street at the snow that had accumulated on the road. There were few tracks in the fresh white snow that had a yellow hue under the light of the street lamps. Reid shivered again and closed the window; he finally walked over to his dresser dropping his blankets from around himself to put on some clothes.

Reid pulled on a pair of boxer shorts and a taupe colored pair of dress pants. He went to scratch his head and for a moment forgot he'd cut his hair only a few hours before. He grinned to himself looking back over his bed at the gold rusted mirror; his own reflection seemed strange in the pale darkness. As he touched his hair he once again thought of George the way his hand felt when he would brush Reid's tangled hair from his eyes.

Reid released a quivering breath from between parted lips; it wasn't until his hand was inside his pants that he even realised he was touching himself. He closed his eyes as he leaned back against the dresser, moving his hand beneath his boxers, delicate fingers probing his warm flesh. He could feel himself becoming hard as he wrapped his porcelain hand around his shaft, his knees began to shake as he moved and turned his hand over and over.

Momentarily he opened his eyes and laid himself back on the cold bed, the sensation chilled his skin and made him shiver as he used his other hand to free himself from the constraints of his pants. Once slacks and boxers were around his knees he continued to pleasure himself.

Fantasizing about his older lover. His amber eyes, callused hands and scarred flesh. The smell of vanilla and sandal wood filled Spencer's memory as he moaned loudly. Now using both hands. One holding the base of his erection while the other pumped up and down with decisive rhythm. Reid found himself moaning George's name as he imaged his lover touching him, kissing him… fucking him.

As memories of past experiences flooded his head Spencer felt his legs begin to stiffen, he groaned as he felt himself cum into his hands. He exhaled deeply, sweat stippling his body. Dawn had finally arrived just as Spencer had, and the snow was now a gentle downfall in the early birth of morning.

-CM-

George sat at his kitchen table, he hadn't slept yet. His hand was wrapped in a kitchen towel blood had seeped through it and dried. It was sore and cracked making blood run down his arm each time he moved his palm or his fingers. This was definitely going to be a handicap; he had cursed himself for being careless and emotional. He knew that agent Hotchner would either be by again himself or send someone in his place to coerce him into cooperating with the Reaper investigation, but as he had decided before… he wasn't going to. When the agents had been by before it was on a whim Foyet had decided not to help them, he had intended to give away all his information but stopped himself, unsure as to why either. Maybe he should have… the amount of what ifs floating around his head was enough to fill the titanic and most likely sink it as well.

At that very moment George was unsure whether or not he even felt like continuing as the Reaper, he just felt so tired. Emotionally as well, somehow he just needed things to end again… which was difficult with agent Hotchner refusing the deal he had made so many years ago with detective Shaunessy. If Foyet was going to hang up his mask again he needed to ensure his legacy of terror would still live on, somehow that was still important to him. But right now it took a back burner to his longing for Reid.

Foyet turned as he heard the sound of a car doors closing, he stood and looked out the window and sighed at the sight of agent Rossi and Prentiss walking up to the front of the apartment building. Agent Prentiss had been suspicious of him since the beginning; he remembered the look on her face some weeks ago in the hospital as they passed each other. She didn't like him being with Spencer, he'd have to be careful as to how he spoke to her. The doorbell buzzed and George walked over to the door and opened it a crack, the chain lock still on.

"Mr. Foyet." Rossi said showing his badge, Prentiss showed hers as well

"Can we come in?" George looked past them and around as if looking for someone else. He nodded but a little and closed the door to unlock the chain before letting the two agents in, he stood behind the door as they entered he slowly closed it and put the chain lock back on before turning to the two agents.

"What do you want?" he asked, Emily immediately had noticed blood drops on the table she looked at Foyet who put his hand behind his back sheepishly as she stared at him

"What happened to your hand?" she asked, Foyet pointed to a broken glass in the sink. He had broken it during the night and put his blood on it in case he were asked about it the next day. Emily nodded as Rossi looked back at George

"We won't take much of your time." Dave said, Foyet nodded and walked around the two agents. He rubbed the cloth on his hand with his thumb as Rossi spoke

"We've determined that your residence may be compromised." George looked confused, Rossi clarified

"The Reaper is likely to know you're here." Foyet's eyes widened but he said nothing as he sat down hard in one of the kitchen chairs. Emily kneeled down as she noticed blood seeping through the cloth onto George's pant leg.

"Can I look at that?" she asked placing her hand on Foyet's, he looked at her strangely but turned his hand over so she could look at his wound. Prentiss unwrapped the cloth carefully to reveal a deep gash in George's palm it was caked with dry blood and hadn't been washed. Dave walked over to the sink grabbing some paper towel and wetting it before handing it over to Emily who put it in George's palm. The dry blood turned an orange brown as she slowly rubbed Foyet's wound clean, it stung and he felt intensely uncomfortable being touched by a woman. Though he tried his hardest not to show his discomfort Emily felt an awkward vibe radiating from Foyet. She turned his fingers up to hold the paper towel and gave him a forced smile before standing up again.

"Mr. Foyet." Rossi started

"George." Foyet said to him, Rossi nodded

"Ok George." He corrected himself "We'd like to offer you protection if you'll take it."

George looked from Rossi to Prentiss then up at the window

"I know he knows I'm here…" he said softly, Emily and Dave exchanged a look of concern

"Let us take you down to the station with us." She said, but Foyet shook his head

"I'm not afraid to die… not anymore." He said still looking out at the snow falling outside the window, Rossi looked concerned but Prentiss was overwhelmed by Foyet's words and she could no longer keep her mouth shut.

"I'm sure Spencer cares if your alive or not." Dave briefly face palmed at Emily's words, he put a hand on her shoulder as George looked back at her.

"That's none of your business." He said, Emily felt her lips purse together tightly

"Reid is my friend, so it is my business." Rossi tapped her shoulder insistently attempting without words to get her to stop which she didn't

"If you don't care what happens to you, you shouldn't have gotten involved with Spencer in the first place, he cares about you. If you don't care then you should have let him come back home with us weeks ago." George knit his brow and stood up slowly. There was the look in his eyes Emily had seen so many weeks before, that darkness she couldn't describe it was haunting and quite frightening.

"I think you should leave now." Foyet said, his fist was clenched and blood was seeping through his fingers onto the floor. Dave pulled Emily away from George and towards the door

"We're very sorry to have bothered you." He said unlocking the door.

"Please give us a call if you need anything." George didn't break eye contact with Emily as she walked out the door with Rossi. They shut the door behind them leaving Foyet standing in his kitchen feeling agitated and full of frustration, if he hadn't made a choice before he was going to make one now… whether it was the right one or not.


	7. Unwavering Sadness

Reid washed his hands off in the sink, the apartment smelled stale, like an old box forgotten in a basement closet somewhere. He'd spent most of the morning cleaning up things he had left unorganized for some time. He swept up the hair in the bathroom and scrubbed down his tub, and had reorganized all his books that had been out of order. He was just washing up some dishes as his cell phone began to ring. He picked it up and was surprised to hear the voice on the other end of the line

"How are you?" he asked, he heard Foyet hum on the other end

"Alright thanks." He said softly, he sounded tired. "I miss you…"

Reid held a painful smile as he sat down on his couch.

"I miss you too." They were both quiet for a minute before Foyet spoke again

"When this is all over… can I see you again?" Reid felt his heart ache in his chest

"I don't know… I hope so." He said trying to keep his voice steady, he heard Foyet sigh

"Ok… I just wanted to hear your voice is all." Reid felt a cold prickling at the back of his neck

"Alright… take care." before Reid could say anything more Foyet hung up. Reid felt badly for not saying more, he wanted to tell George how he felt. To say that he loved him and wanted him there, but he also wanted to ask him about the Reaper… and what it is he really knew about the notorious murderer. Everything seemed so out of reach, not only physically but emotionally, he felt detached from George in a way he couldn't explain, perhaps it was his suspicions that made him feel this way he wasn't sure, but he hoped he was wrong about George.

-CM-

Hotch wasn't at all impressed with what Rossi told him, he had hoped Prentiss would keep Reid out of things but now they were right back where they started. There was only one thing to do, they had to keep trying to work the case based on what information they had. The team spent most of the afternoon going over case files and Foyet's old description of the Reaper, they looked over photos of the crowds that gathered at the crime scenes but no one fit the description.

Hotch turned as he heard JJ make a "huh" noise she had been looking over a set of pictures for over an hour before she finally saw something, she got up quickly and brought the photos over to him.

"Look at this." she said, there were three photos of the eyes drawn on the vehicles of the most recent victims. Hotch wasn't sure what she was pointing out. She handed him a magnifying glass she had been using. Hotch looked closer, scratched inside each eye were a series of tiny numbers.

"There's nothing like this in the old case files?" He asked, JJ shook her head.

"I would have never seen them if I hadn't had this out." She said pointing at the magnifying glass.

"I was studying the two girl's bodies looking for whatever might have been taken when I noticed it, so I checked the other two and sure enough there were these numbers." They still had no idea what had been taken from the vehicle or the bodies of the recent victims. Which would make it hard to know if the signature were indeed the Reapers if more murders were committed. Hotch took the photo's over to the table and began writing down the sets of numbers

"1439, 201 and 1488." He said aloud, he had no idea what the numbers meant. If they were page numbers, addresses, a phone number or nothing at all, this could be the break in the case they needed… if only they knew what it meant.

"Wait… Lemme see that!" Garcia said excitedly extending her hand out without getting up from her chair; she waved her open hand at Hotch as if she were glued down to her seat. He handed the sheet of paper to Morgan who passed it to Garcia; she typed furiously looking from the numbers to her screen before turning the laptop around.

"Look." She said she had a horrified look on her face. The others looked down at the screen and saw what had Garcia so upset. The numbers matched up with places Reid's cell phone had been tracked, and one of them was Foyet's apartment building.

"Foyet's other residents?" Derek asked curiously, Garcia nodded

"Has to be." She said, looking up at Hotch.

"Rossi you go to the apartment with JJ, Derek and Emily go to 1439, I'll go to 1488." Prentiss looked up at Hotch

"Alone? Hotch that could be dangerous." Hotch shook his head

"I'll be fine let's move." They collected themselves and headed out the door

"Be safe!" Garcia yelled out to them. As they loaded into the SUV's Hotch began to dread what he knew they were likely to find.

-CM-

"Why are you telling me this?" Reid demanded, he was pacing his hall back and forth as Garcia spoke

"Sweetie I want you to know what's going on, you deserve that much." Reid was going crazy, Garcia had just told him the Reaper left Foyet's addresses behind at each of the crime scenes and now the team was on their way to each one to see what they would find. His head was swimming with a thousand possibilities.

"I should be there, why did I leave? I knew something like this was going to happen." Garcia tried to shush Reid's fears but it was hard over the phone.

"Reid honey its ok, they're going to bring him back if he's there." Reid groaned in frustration, as he paced faster in his hall

"And if he's dead what then? Will they bring him back then?" Garcia sighed unsure of how to answer and now quite sorry she had called Reid.

"You can't think like that ok." Reid continuously balled his hand in a fist and out again in pure vexation, why did he ever leave Boston? He could be there helping, George might have taken his help if he were there. Oh god why was this happening?

"I have to go." Reid said suddenly, Garcia tried to keep him on the line but he hung up. Desperately he began punching in the numbers of George's cell phone and listening to it ring over and over… but no one picked up. Reid sat down hard in the middle of the hallway dialing over and over again but still getting nothing.

At that same time Rossi and JJ exited the apartment, no one was there. The door frame was bent slightly and the chain lock broken but there was no sign of Foyet.

Hotch had found some broken glass and old blood on the floor under the kitchen table of the house he'd gone to, but there wasn't a lot of blood, there were a dried clear smear across the wooden floor as well that he was unsure as to what it was.

Prentiss and Morgan on the other hand had found something that made Emily have to walk back out the front door quickly for some air, the back door of the little white house was open snow had made its way inside and there was a large pile of it leading up the hall into the kitchen where Derek stood. The snow was painted crimson from a pool of blood in the middle of the kitchen floor, drag marks led out through the snow and into the backyard where they disappeared with tire tracks down an alley and then were gone somewhere into the wet street.

Whoever had been there was most likely dead, there were signs of a struggle… things had been rummaged through and bloody handprints covered the base of the wall near the back door… someone had been dragged away to their death.

"Oh no." Derek turned to see Emily standing near the doorway, she pointed down in the snow and Derek walked over to see what it was. Next to the doorway was a cell phone, it was on silent but the animation of a ringing bell was playing on it and underneath that read the name "Spencer"

-CM-

Reid finally put his phone down and began to sob into his hands out of pure frustration, as soon as he stopped trying to dial George his phone rang. He picked it up gulping in a breath as he tried to speak

"Hello?" he said shakily

"Reid!" it was Garcia "Are you ok?"

Reid shook his head and wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeve as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"No I'm not." He said trying to keep his voice from cracking. Garcia breathed heavily

"Reid honey…" she said, he could hear her voice shaking.

"What is it?" he asked softly, he could hear Garcia gulp in a breath and his heart sank

"Sweetie I don't think he made it…" she cried, Spencer couldn't help himself he threw his phone across the room with an agonizing cry, his forehead pressed against the floor as he sobbed uncontrollably. Garcia had heard the phone thunk against something followed by the tormented sounds that could only be coming from Spencer. Her chin quivered as she tried to keep it together. Derek had called her and told her very little, but they were sure it was Foyet who had been killed in the house. They asked her not to tell Reid but she couldn't keep that from him, not after everything he had been through, she just wished he were there with them. The thought now of what he might do all by himself petrified her; all she could do was listen to Reid sob on the other end of the line. The other line rang and she patched it through on her headset.

"Garcia." She gulped in a breath it was Hotch.

"Yes… I'm sorry sir." Hotch already knew what had happened and was on his way to the little white house, as was Rossi and JJ. The other properties were being secured by the police and the crime unit, but Hotch wanted to see this scene for himself and they all wanted to take part in securing it.

Hotch was unsure now of what to say to her, he could hear the faint sound of crying in the background and instantly recognised the voice as Reid's he had never forgotten the agonizing cries of his agent while he had been tortured and tormented by Henkel while he and the rest of the team were forced to watch by video helplessly… strangely… this sounded more painful.

"Go home and see Reid." was all Hotch could say before hanging up, Garcia instantly closed her laptop and headed out the door.

"Reid…" she said into the phone but he was nowhere near it.

"Reid stay there I'm coming." She said as she hailed a cab.

Reid didn't hear her; he couldn't hear his own thoughts pouring out of himself as he cried lying in the middle of his hallway… George was gone… and there was nothing that he could do to bring him back.


	8. You Reap what you Sew

Hotch stood next to a Roy Colson who came as soon as the news of another murder was reported, he'd been hanging around the police station a lot so he was on scene just as fast as anyone else was.

"It's a terrible shame is what it is." Hotch looked over at Colson his arms crossed as Roy shoved his hands in his pockets attempting to keep them warm, it had begun to snow again.

"George was a hell of a guy, very quiet and honest. The guy wouldn't hurt a fly." Roy shook his head as he looked back at Hotch who was studying his face now.

"He was always scared the Reaper'd come back for em… it was his worst fear he said." Hotch exhaled deeply as he turned his attention back to the house, no body had been found and the crime scene unit was still taking pictures of the house while the BAU stood outside or sat waiting in their vehicles.

Emily was sitting in the back of one of the SUV's with her head in her hands trying to keep herself together; she felt so awful about what had happened and even worse about how she had been treating Spencer. She couldn't imagine how he felt losing someone so soon in a relationship, someone he cared for and who she know cared for him, despite what George had said. it was more than apparent to her he cared for Reid.

"You ok?" JJ asked opening the door, Emily sighed.

"As ok as I can be." JJ got in and sat next to Prentiss closing the door behind her.

"Jesus it's a mess in there." Emily said burying her face in her hands again. JJ put a hand on Emily's knee.

"Hotch told Garcia to go back home and check on Reid… but the planes are grounded right now because of the weather, I guess only a few took off this afternoon." The sky was pitch black outside, though you would fail to notice with the snow coming down as heavy as it was.

"He must be devastated." Emily said trying to keep her voice calm as she spoke; JJ nodded rubbing her hands together.

"Losing someone is always hard…" she said softly, Emily looked up at her as JJ feigned a painful smile.

Elsewhere Reid was still lying on the floor of his apartment, he'd cried so long and hard his throat hurt and his tears had run dry, his eyes were red and sore as he lie there looking up at the ceiling, he hadn't moved at all. His phone was still sitting upside down against the wall where he had thrown it, it had rung numerous times but there was no one he wanted to talk to. Reid rolled onto his side and felt a hot tear burn from his eyes he rolled onto his stomach and slowly got up on his hands and knees, pushing himself to stand he made his way into his bedroom and opened his bottom drawer. He rummaged through it before pulling out a small box which he opened… he stared at the contents inside; he hadn't opened the box in a very long time. Though he had thought about it he'd never once touched it, and it had sat where he had stored it for more than a year now.

Reid picked up the tiny bottle of Dilaudid and looked it over; he had three needles in the box and only one bottle of the drug. He had never used them, but he had figured keeping it close would help him to overcome the temptation to use it… though right now that thought was far away as he took out one of the needles and stabbed it into the top of the bottle. He pulled his belt off swiftly and attached it round his forearm pulling it tight with his teeth as he found a vein, he only doubted for a moment his intentions before plunging the needle into his arm and squeezing its contents into his body. He threw the needle to the floor and sat back releasing the belt, his head felt like it was filling with water as he slowly leaned back against the foot of the bed. His legs were heavy and his neck twitched his head forward as he fell away from the world of pain and into a strange dream.

There were indescribable shapes and noises that slowly began to take focus, he was watching Gideon leave the cabin and disappear into a thick darkness, his mother too walked away from her front door into an impenetrable darkness he could not reach. As much as he tried to move he felt his world was running further away from him and the darkness was all but surrounding. Suddenly a hand came through the black and grasped his own pulling his close, he felt warm and safe with this person. They stroked his hair and held him tight and the blackness began to melt away from them. Reid's eyes were shut tight he felt as if he were floating. He felt afraid to move, to breathe even for fear if he opened his eyes he'd find himself suspended in space and fall forever.

"Spencer." Came a familiar voice, "Spencer come back, come back to me." The voice was like an underwater song in his ears, it was so far away yet so very near in his mind. Then suddenly everything was gone.

-CM-

The scene had finally been released to them, and Hotch was first inside to look it over. He walked from the front entry way to the kitchen and looked over the long drag marks that went out the back door; a large eye was painted there. The crime scene unit was trying fruitlessly to get some kind of tire impression but the snow had ebbed any track away along with most of the drag marks, it was wet and muddy in the yard and the more people who had walked through it the worse it got.

Hotch decided to look around more as Rossi stood at the kitchen table with an officer looking over the cell phone that had been picked up by the doorway. Hotch found the basement and slowly made his way down after flicking on the light at the top of the stairs, the room he came to looked like someone had torn through it. There were tools on the floor and an over turned chair but nothing more of interest other than some metal and plastic shavings in the trash. The spare room next to the work station was empty except for some boxes that contained nothing more than packing peanuts.

Foyet's laptop hadn't been recovered, wherever it may have been or if it was at all important. He didn't seem to have much in the ways of personal belongings. At least not in this residence, there was the house Hotch had been to but everything there seemed normal. All but the stain on the floor which had been confirmed to be seminal fluid. Hotch didn't really want to know how it got there, and didn't think it was related to the murder so he ignored it.

Morgan was on the phone most of the time with Garcia, who was stranded at the airport and refused to leave in case a flight became available, Hotch offered the jet but it wasn't going anywhere any more than the planes were so she declined. She was more than keeping Derek busy with her fears about Reid, though her fears were the same as the rest of the team… they just silently kept it to themselves hoping for the best.

When the blood was confirmed to be human and they were certain it was Foyet they closed the doors with police entry tape and headed back to the station. When they arrived Hotch was surprised by the one of the detectives

"I think we found the bastard." He said, Aaron was unsure of what to say, the detective clued him in.

"We got a report of a fire off the road near the eastside; some guy had run the light and hit a lamp post or something." Hotch was still confused as to where this was going, his face showed it and the detective summed things up

"After the fire was out they find this extra crispy in the front seat with a half charred mask on his face, gun next to him and a bloody knife under the seat." Hotch's eyes widened

"Freak accident, something crossed in the engine and the breaks went… boom right into the post… deader than dead." Aaron sat down, the rest of the team looked at each other in shock.

"Did you find Foyet?" Rossi asked, the detective shook his head

"Only one stiff in the car, but the backseat was covered in blood, he musta dumped the body somewhere else." Hotch sighed

"Check the odometer to see how far he'd gone, maybe we'll get lucky and find the body along the route somewhere." The detective scrambled over to one of his officers, bringing over the information. Hotch got the team together and they were on their way out once more.

Eventually they came to a bridge, but nothing was found… if Foyet's body had been dumped it could be anywhere in Massachusetts bay now… Derek cursed as he hit the side of the bridge with his hand. Knowing they could give Reid no closure this way. Hotch shook his head and reluctantly they headed back to the station to file their report. The bay would be combed by boat for the body but it was miles and miles of open water… they may never find George.

-CM-

Reid groaned as the stab of daylight invaded his eyes, they were swollen and sore. He went to sit up but was pushed back down gently, he tried to focus his eyes and when he finally did he was shocked to see George sitting next to him on the bed, instantly he flung his arms around him. George held him humming as Reid squeezed him tight; he ran a hand through Spencer's short hair.

"What did you do." He asked quite bemused as he touched his young lovers face, Reid let go and fell back into the stack of pillows behind him. He was lying in bed somehow.

"Am I dead?" he asked, George laughed

"No, you're not dead pretty boy." Reid was confused,

"But you're…. you're alive…." He said clearly disoriented, George nodded

"I know." Reid looked around

"How did you get in here?" he asked, George pointed to the window

"Through there." Reid was now more bewildered than ever

"I'm on the third floor!" he exclaimed, George nodded nonchalantly

"I know." He said, Reid groaned rubbing his eyes they burned and his head pounded, George rubbed his chest as he lay there.

"Why are you here?" Reid asked still rubbing his eyes, George exhaled deeply

"Because… I'm dead." He said frankly, Reid gave him a sobering look.

"What the heck is going on?" he demanded, Foyet's shoulders dropped as he shifted himself on the bed.

"I'm dead." He said again, Reid stared at him he tried to focus but his vision blurred. He suddenly felt very light headed and as he tried to sit up it got worse. George slowly pushed him back to lie down.

"Sleep now." He said silently "Sleep…" he repeated and within moments Reid was out.


	9. Tie Down your Crazy Thoughts

Voices were hushed around Reid, he felt as if he were in a haze as he tried to open his eyes. Ominous shapes came towards him and he recoiled, they backed away and spoke to him in underwater voices. He couldn't focus on their words, he couldn't see who or what they were. He began to fall away again feeling his eye lids flutter and his visions disappear once more.

It was dark inside his head, he felt himself being held under a spot light. It was warm on the outside of his mind, in his heart he felt cold and alone. Spencer searched for some passage away from the darkness he had been sealed inside. He could hear voices again and saw lights shining back and forth he moved towards them and they grew brighter and brighter until they shone clearly into his eyes.

As Reid realised he was awake he shook his head violently away from the light and sat up, Morgan was there in a heartbeat to hold him back.

"Reid!" he said loudly trying to ground his young friend, Spencer looked from him to the person holding the light, it was a doctor. There was a nurse standing in the doorway and Prentiss stood next to her, Reid went to move forward and couldn't. He looked down and noticed his wrists were restrained to the sides of the bed. His eyes widened as he realised he was in the psych ward of the hospital and he began to struggle more. Morgan tried to hold him down and calm him but it wasn't working

"Reid. Reid its ok." Derek said, Emily came over to the other side as the doctor moved back and muttered something to the nurse as she scurried out of the room.

"Reid its Emily, you're in the hospital." Reid pulled up on the restraints with all his might but couldn't budge them; he let out a sharp cry as he let his hands fall to his sides. He closed his eyes and tears began streaming down his face. Derek put a hand on Reid's shoulder.

"It's ok kid. You're ok." He said, Reid cried harder turning his face away from Morgan who looked up painfully at Emily.

"Reid." she started as the nurse came back with a syringe, Morgan put his hand up to stop her.

"Reid do you remember what happened? Do you know who brought you in?" she asked, Spencer didn't respond to her. The experience of waking up tied down to a bed in the mental ward was overwhelming and frightening to him, he shook his head as he gasped for a breath between sobs.

"Reid we couldn't find you at home, Garcia checked the hospitals and found you here." Reid slowly turned his head to meet Emily's gaze, he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Reid you've been unconscious for almost two days." She said Spencer turned to Derek who nodded; Reid looked back at the doctor and nurse who had sterile looks on their faces.

"They think the dilaudid contributed to your seizure." Reid looked back at Emily

"Seizure?" he croaked, his mouth was very dry. He had just realised there was an IV in his arm and tubes to help him breathe on his face.

"You had a nervous breakdown kid." Reid turned back to Morgan

"Complete neurological overload." The doctor added walking over to the end of the bed, Reid looked up at him.

"You were delirious when you came to and we were forced to restrain you." Spencer had no memory of this

"Your family has a history of mental illness is that right?" he asked, Reid looked from Emily to Derek and he shook his head as he pulled up on the wrist restraints again

"I'm not crazy." he stammered, the doctor gave a bit of a smile and nodded

"No one is saying you're crazy Spencer, you just need some rest… that's all." Emily gripped Reid's hand and he stared at her with wild eyes.

"Take me home." He pleaded, but she shook her head.

"You need to recover Mr. Reid." the doctor said

"It's Dr. Reid." Spencer corrected him, "And tying me down, drugging and belittling me is not going to do anything for my mental psyche." The doctor sighed

"You were signed into our care Dr. Reid; we only want what's best for you." Reid looked from Morgan to Prentiss who were unsure of what to say

"I'm not a danger to anyone can you at least take these off?" he asked pulling up on the restraints, Derek looked at the doctor who made a bit of a face

"From the reaction you had to the light I think your more in danger of hurting yourself, as soon as we do some tests we'll talk about releasing you." Reid looked at Morgan

"Is there anything we can do?" Derek asked the doctor, who stepped out of the room motioning for Morgan to follow him. Reid was at a loss as Morgan got up and exited the room.

The doctor closed the door and they looked in through the window

"Dr. Reid is experiencing all the symptoms of someone on a psychotic break." He explained, Derek crossed his arms

"His mother's schizophrenic but has been since he was a child, she's institutionalized." The doctor looked back at Derek

"I don't think that's the case here, definitely he needs to be watched for the next forty eight hours. His body will go through withdrawal to the drug he injected himself with. It was a rather heavy amount and there's probably still some residual left in his blood right now." Derek nodded

"Can we take him home, I volunteer personally to watch him." The doctor sighed

"I don't recommend he leave the hospital but you are able to sign him out into your care." Morgan nodded

"I'll do that thank you." The doctor put his hand on the door knob before Derek could and gave him a stern look

"Let me just make clear to you agent Morgan, this kind of behaviour doesn't just go away. I'm certain there is some underlying condition present that Dr. Reid needs treatment for." Derek nodded

"Well thank you for your opinion." He said "But I think I can handle it from here." The doctor moved aside and Morgan re-entered the room, as soon as he did Reid was trying to sit up again. Derek put his hand out to reassure him things were ok

"It's alright Reid, I'm taking you home." Reid sighed deeply relieved by his friend's words.

"I'll have an orderly bring you your personal effects." The doctor said and the nurse followed him out, Derek undid the restraint buckles on one side as Emily undid the other. Reid finally sat up straight he rubbed his wrists and looked down. His feet were restrained as well.

"What happened?" he asked, feeling quite dizzy and nauseous.

Derek moved to the end of the bed and began undoing the buckles on the restraints

"You tell us." Emily said "Garcia took a plane ahead of us and said you weren't at home and your door was wide open. She found the needles and dilaudid Reid." Spencer looked down at his wrists sheepishly pulling the air tubes from his face away.

"Is she alright." He asked, Derek was finally finished undoing the straps

"No she's not, she looked everywhere for you, she was the first one here to find you shouting at a nurse and being held down and sedated." Reid looked surprised by Derek's words. He had no recollection of that what so ever.

"She's was pretty shook up about it… we all were." Reid looked to Emily and she smiled painfully back at him.

"I don't remember." Reid said licking his lips, they felt so dry.

"Do you know how you got here?" she asked, Reid shook his head

"I remember seeing George…" he said quietly, Prentiss looked up at Morgan who gave her the same dead pan face. Emily looked back at Reid slowly who was fidgeting with his thumb nail

"Reid…" she said softly putting a hand on his knee, he looked up at her. An orderly came into the room suddenly with a bag of clothes, shoes and the rest of Reid's belongings. He gave a clip board to Derek who looked it over and signed it before handing it back to the man. Who tipped his head and left the room.

Derek gave a quick turn of his head towards the door, motioning Emily to leave.

"Take your time kid, we'll be right outside." He said handing the bags of clothes to Spencer, who clutched them tightly to his chest and nodded slowly.

As the door was closed Reid shifted his body so his legs were dangling off the bed, there was nothing more in the room than the bed, one side table with a plastic cup of water on it and one chair. He looked down at the pressed bag of clothes and opened it slowly, he gasped as the smell of vanilla wafted up at him and filled his head with the distant memory of he and George's first meeting.

"Collect your thoughts did you?" George had asked, Reid had started to walk in a random line towards him.

"Wasn't much to collect really." He'd replied. George laughed as he started walking towards him and Reid had stopped in his tracks smiling in a dumbstruck way as George came closer, his face painted with a beautiful smile under the light of the street lamp.

"I was watching you in there, and trying to think of how to approach you in a way that didn't seem stupid; lucky for me you're just as awkward as I am." He'd said, putting his hands in his pockets looking out at the road. Reid remembered how stupid he had felt when he spilled his drink, when they had stared at each other from across the table and how he unexpectedly followed this strange man out the door.

"Uh Why?" is all that had come out of Spencer's mouth and there was an amused look on George's face as he still stared out at the road.

"You're nice lookin'." George had said, he'd shuffled his foot around as he spoke. "And I thought… I'd regret it if I didn't at least say Hello." He remembered blushing when Foyet had spoken those words, and then they were walking and drinking coffee and not long after kissing in his apartment…

Reid pulled out his shirt and unfolded it. He undid the string at the back of his hospital gown and pulled on his dress shirt as he took his pants out of the bag and shook them something fell from his pocket, he looked down on the floor to see what it was. It was a vanilla bean… Reid just stared at it wondering how it had gotten there. He grasped it quickly and pulled on his pants as there was a knock at the door.

"You ready kid?" it was Morgan

"Almost." Reid said back as Morgan shut the door once more, Reid took the bean from his pocket and looked at it. Could George still be alive? He had no idea what had happened with the case and if George had been found, all he had were Garcia's words "I don't think he made it" she had said… maybe he had… Reid shoved the thought from his mind as he pulled on one dinosaur sock and another that was bright green. He put his shoes on left to right and retied them and made his way over to the door.

Morgan and Prentiss tried to look happy as Reid exited the room.

"Alright, let's go." He said, Morgan smiled and put a hand on Reid's shoulder as they walked out of the ward.


	10. Suspicious Denial

Hotch sat in his apartment reading and re-reading the Reaper case file, as far as Boston PD was concerned the Reaper had died in the car wreck they'd discovered. Foyet's blood in the back seat and the Reaper mask confirmed their suspicions that the charred man was indeed the Boston Reaper, but Hotch wasn't so sure of that. How could a serial killer who had sat on his hands for ten years run into a lamp post? How could he not know his breaks were out? Aaron couldn't believe the case was over. The body of the man in the vehicle had been confirmed to be a man named Charles Wagner; he was in his early fifties and had been in jail already for soliciting a minor. The dates all seemed to match up, and the age was right, even his mug shot had looked like the police sketch made over a decade ago by Foyet's description… Hotch was just not convinced.

Something seemed off about the whole thing, Foyet was brutally killed and then dumped? That didn't fit the Reaper's M.O. or did Foyet escape? But there was so much blood in the little white house… it wouldn't have been possible for him to have survived… Aaron rubbed his temples. He was the only one now obsessing over the case still, everyone else had moved on from it. They had been more concerned with Reid, who had taken the news of George's murder very hard.

Garcia had called Hotch while he was still in Boston to tell him Spencer had been admitted to the psych ward of the hospital, he'd overdosed on Dilaudid and was in the doctor's opinions experiencing a complete and total nervous breakdown. Hotch had immediately sent Morgan and Prentiss home after they heard the news, their heads were no longer in the case so they hadn't been of much use. JJ had released a statement to the press telling about the death of the supposed Boston Reaper, and Rossi had stayed to help Hotch finish up the filing of the case. When the autopsy of Charles Wagner was complete no one had any qualms against the belief this man was the Reaper. It frustrated Hotch that there was nothing more explored to confirm whether dates matched one hundred percent or not. The small amount of information that linked up with previous Reaper case info was enough for Boston PD to say Wagner was indeed the killer they had sought.

A story was made up to put Boston PD in a better light and say Wagner was attempting to evade police when he crashed and the city was satiated by that. Rossi and JJ had agreed with Hotch at the time but a few days later neither of them were very understanding of Aaron's refusal to believe the Reaper had been killed… it just didn't fit.

-CM-

"Ugh." Reid groaned resting his head against the wall as he flushed the toilet; he'd been sitting up for hours being sick. The withdrawal from the dilaudid was hitting him hard, his skin was itching for a fix and he seemed to vomit whenever it got too intense for him to bear.

Morgan sat with his back against the door. Reid hadn't wanted him to see him like this, but Derek insisted upon being wherever Reid was so he sat outside the door with it open just a crack.

"Need anything kid?" Derek asked, Reid moaned again closing his eyes

"Just shoot me." He said with a painful chuckle, Morgan grinned

"It'll pass Reid." Spencer hiccupped and groaned as he did, he was at the point where he was dry heaving now. His throat burned and his chest felt like it was collapsing into itself… and he was making jokes. Reid sighed leaning his bare back against the cold bath tub, it felt good and the change in temperature seemed to calm his stomach. Derek cracked open the door slightly and moved his head back at the smell the came out of the room.

It was like hot oil and burning toast, he felt bad for his young friend. He wasn't feeling so great himself though; he hadn't slept a lot since he'd had Reid signed into his care. He'd called the hospital a few times just to ask what he could do; Garcia showed up a few hours after Reid had gotten very sick and helped Morgan out. She was currently asleep on Reid's pull out couch.

"Thank you." Reid croaked between parched lips, Derek turned his head at the words

"Forget about it." He said his elbows rested on his knees. His lower back was hurting and his backside was numb at this point.

"No I mean it." Reid said turning on his side to lie on the cool bathroom floor; his body was stippled with sweat.

"We've been on opposite ends for a while Morgan," Derek half smiled "And I feel responsible."

"You can't take all the blame." Morgan said with a turn of his head. Reid hummed

"I'm not… I blame you too." Derek laughed as did Reid before groaning again from the movement.

"What are you boys giggling about?" Morgan looked up at Garcia, she was wearing a bright pair of pink leopard print pajama pants and a big red shirt with a black heart in the middle, her hair was done up with a claw at the back and she was without her glasses.

"Nothin' baby girl go back to sleep." Derek said shooing her with his hand

"Nah." She said "Trade off, you scoot." Derek shrugged as she sat down on the floor and crossed her legs.

"If you say so." With that he got up, stretched and headed out to the living room, Penelope cracked open the door to the bathroom slightly, Reid was lying on his back next to the bath tub, he was wearing a pair of beige dress pants with the zipper undone, his boxers stuck out the top. He was only wearing one sock with silver sail boats on it and no shirt.

"Hello star shine." Garcia said, Reid looked at her upside down and gave a slight smile and a wave before closing his eyes again, shifting his shoulders from side to side on the hard floor.

Garcia scooted along the floor and made her way into the bathroom, the lights were off and the only light came from the hall light that had been on most of the night now. She closed the door slightly as she sat in front of the sink.

"You ok?" she asked, Reid didn't open his eyes as he slowly shook his head. Pushing his tongue out and back in-between his lips. Garcia moved a stray hair from Reid's eyes and he opened them to look up at her.

"Missing your friend?" she asked softly, Reid's bottom lip quivered he looked up at the ceiling clearing his throat and nodded slightly.

"Sorry." Garcia said holding her feet, legs still crossed. Reid nodded again

"He's not dead." He said nearly under his breath, Penelope leaned closer to Reid

"What makes you say that?" she asked, Reid looked over at her

"He was here… I saw him here." Garcia tried to smile as she moved another stray hair from Reid's eyes

"Oh sweetie you were so out of it when I saw you at the hospital…" Reid shook his head

"No this was before the hospital." Garcia sighed; she took hold of Reid's hand who looked up at her again.

"Reid I love you, don't do this to yourself." Spencer feigned a smile and looked away, his hand limp in hers. Of course she didn't believe him… he barely believed it himself, but he knew he had to be right, he knew George was there. He felt him, and he heard him, how could his mind make something like that up? And what about the vanilla bean in his pocket? Only he and George would understand that reference, from their first sort of date at the coffee shop… their vanilla tea. Reid shivered and Garcia pulled a towel off the rack and placed it on top of him.

"Try to get some sleep ok?" she said, Reid nodded turning his head to the side and closing his eyes. Garcia let Reid's hand go, as she crossed her arms and leaned her head back against the sink.

"Do you want me to stay?" she asked quietly, Reid shook his head

"No you can go." He said in a whisper, Garcia was thankful for that. Even though she wanted to be there for Reid, sitting on the floor in his tiny bathroom for an hour or two was not really appealing to her, besides she'd already been there since the afternoon of the previous day, it was now three in the morning of the following day and she was beyond tired.

Derek shifted as Garcia crawled onto the pull out next to him

"Move it chocolate thunder." She said poking Derek in the ribs, he chuckled and rolled onto his back, Garcia rested her head in the crook of his arm and sighed

"Goodnight baby girl." He said, she hummed as she cuddled into his arm. Derek smiled looking over the back of the couch to the light in the hallway; he sighed and closed his eyes. Reid sat up against his bath. He rolled his thumbs over each other as thoughts of George plagued his mind.

Was he going crazy? No! No he refused to believe that, he refused to believe George had been dropped off a bridge and bled out like an animal to the slaughter; he just couldn't believe it was true.

With that in his head he wondered now about the Reaper, who Derek told him had been killed in a supposed freak accident. If that were so and it had been confirmed then all of Reid's fear about George being the Reaper were false… which was a relief to him, now he just had to figure out how Foyet had escaped the Reaper, had he faked his own death? But if that were so how did his blood get in the Reaper's car? There were so many questions, and no simple answers. Reid sighed as he laid back down, feeling nauseous once again. Only time would tell whether or not he'd see George again, he hoped anyways.

-CM-

Foyet was indeed alive; he was sitting in a hotel at that very moment shaving his head in the bathroom. He ran his hand over his scalp as he finished. He looked at himself in the mirror studying his own face; he smirked as he walked out of the bathroom. Wincing as he sat down on the bed and lifted up his black t-shirt. He had two deep cuts in his side. He'd stabbed himself just deep enough to cause a lot of blood loss, but knowing enough about his own pain threshold and how much he could withstand to lose had been the easy part. It was the healing that was most painful. Foyet sighed, he thought about how he had "killed" himself, he'd been bloodletting for a while now and keeping the blood in jars in his basement. He'd used them in the little white house, splashing a large puddle onto the kitchen floor then walking through it continuously and moving it around with his hands, when he realised there wasn't enough blood he had cut into his side and smeared an eye on the back door, leaving hand prints on the back step and a trail out into a car he had stolen, he sat in the back seat letting himself bleed on the seat while he stitched himself up.

After he had bandaged himself he drove off, he had been stalking a man who was recently out of prison for soliciting a minor, he was near the right age and if George had done his homework right would fit perfectly in the role of the Reaper. After a blow to the head and a transfer of blood to a nearby bridge, he left the man partially conscience with no breaks driving away from him fearing for his life. Fortunately for George the idiot ran into a lamp post only a few miles up the road. He hadn't planned on killing the man, but it helped him out all the same, he had figured he'd crash at some point. Who was to really know the car would go up in flames that alone helped him even more so, now any evidence of Foyet other than the blood in the backseat would be gone. Foyet groaned as he removed the soiled dressing from his wounds, they had begun to bleed again; he would need to do some better stitching. He groaned opening the bed side drawer and pulling out a small bottle of Tapazole and another of Oxycontin, he downed a few pills before heading back to the bathroom.

Foyet looked at his wound in the mirror and grimaced; he sat on the edge of the bath tub and pulled at the end of the stitches slightly. Wincing as he did so, he took a needle from the sink counter and flicked on a lighter that had been lying next to it, as the end of the needle turned black he breathed deeply putting the lighter down, he turned looking down at his wound and pushed the hot needle through his scarred flesh, he groaned as he closed up bloody spots he hadn't been able to close in the back seat of the car. He'd re-sewn the wounds a few times, now he was getting worried he might get an infection. Foyet groaned as he continued to sew up the wound on his side. Finally he pulled the thread tight and bit off the end tying it in a knot. He took the lighter and burned the knot into his skin, brushing away dry blood as he finished with the lighter.

The room smelled like burned flesh and iron, Foyet ran his tongue over his teeth as he stood and looked at his handiwork in the mirror. He had two more stab wounds now to add to his list of self-inflicted scars. As he looked down at the wounds he noticed the faint scar on his wrist and he quickly looked away from it. It was his first scar… he'd made it with a broken bottle when he was only a child, Foyet cursed his mother under his breath, cursed her for never being strong enough to protect him from his drunken father, for not leaving the bastard or killing him herself. She had signed her own life away the first time she allowed her husband to take out his rage on George, and he had no love for her from that moment on. All he had done was bided his time waiting and planning their deaths… a strange thing for a child to do, unless of course that child was George…

Foyet sighed as he walked out of the bathroom and back into the main room, which had a large bed, old style television, some chairs, a bedside table and a mini fridge as well. He pulled out some gauze and rubbing alcohol wiping down his stitches and rewrapping the stab wounds. He sat down slowly and flicked on the TV, it had static playing through it and the sound wasn't great but he could follow what was happening, the news was still covering the Reaper case, talking about how citizens of Boston would rest easy now, there were candle light vigils and the like being organized and all other kinds of agonizingly moronic things to remember the victims. George groaned and flicked off the set, lying back on the bed. He sighed looking up at the ceiling fan that slowly spun above him, and he wondered if Spencer had recovered yet… and if he would see him again.


	11. Baby Bird Blood

"Yes thank you, I'll be fine." Garcia screwed up her face as she stared at Reid with crossed arms, she had gone through the entire apartment and taken the dilaudid that was stowed in the dresser, and she hadn't found anything more and was thankful for that. It had been a few days now and Reid was doing much better, Morgan was sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine he'd picked up days before just to pass the time. Garcia though was having a hard time with the thought of leaving Spencer alone in his apartment now that he felt better.

"Really, I appreciate it but I'm ok." Garcia tapped her foot, arms still crossed as Derek came up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder she looked over at him

"Gotta leave the nest eventually momma." He said, Garcia rolled her eyes as she walked up to Reid who was sitting on the edge of his bed. She clasped her hands together around Reid's; he looked at her strangely as she did it.

"You will call me if you need anything?" she said firmly, Reid smiled

"Yes I will thank you." He replied, Derek grinned as he rolled his eyes and walked out of the room

"Come on Penelope we've over stayed out welcome." His voice trailed back to her. Reid chuckled as Garcia groaned and turned around to make a face at Morgan before turning back to Reid

"I'm super serious here Mr." she said wagging her finger at Spencer, who nodded back at her.

"I know, I'll be fine thanks." He answered, she sighed giving Reid one of many hugs she'd already given him that morning. Reid sighed

"How many times are we going to do this today?" he said moving his head around her shoulder as she squeezed him, Garcia finally stood up

"I'm sorry." She said with a blush, she kissed her hand and pushed it against Reid's forehead who smiled

"Ok bye, I really gotta water my plants anyways." Reid laughed as she scurried out of the room and down the hall to grab her bright purple bag from Derek, who gave Reid a wave as they headed out the door.

"Take care of yourself Reid." he called out

"Thank you." Spencer answered as the door shut behind them; as soon as they were gone Reid fell back on the bed with a heavy sigh. He'd spent almost a week with Garcia and Morgan and occasionally JJ and Emily came by, Rossi and Hotch hadn't bothered because they knew Reid was being sat on by everyone so they let him be, but JJ assured him that he was in their thoughts.

It was somewhat off putting to be lavished with such attention, whenever he was sick he would usually just camp out in his bathroom until he felt better, Reid wasn't used to having fellow campers. But he more than understood why they were there. The hospital wanted to run more tests but Spencer had declined, he didn't want them to find something stupid and twist it into a crazy diagnosis. He'd never get back to work then, the way things were going currently he'd be out of work for longer than he wanted to be. Hotch had put in a month's leave of absence on top of the last three weeks medical leave. Spencer would have to have a drug test before returning to work, and Aaron wanted him to be there. But he needed Reid to be there because he wanted to be, right now was not that time. Reid needed time to grieve for George, whose body had still not been found.

At that same time Hotch was being approached with an arson case somewhere in Indiana, he had already called together most of the team and was just waiting for Morgan and Garcia to come in. they'd had a day or so already to recovered from house sitting Reid so he figured they'd be fine to work the case.

"Should we tell Reid?" Hotch looked at JJ

"Tell Reid what?" JJ sighed, as she sat down across from Aaron

"Where we're going." he shook his head

"Reid's not at work he doesn't need to be concerned with us right now, let him focus on his recovery." JJ nodded, she felt bad for Spencer and wanted to keep him abreast of everything that was happening,, she knew for herself it was easier to get through hardship if you had a distraction she couldn't imagine being home alone dealing with all Reid had been through.

"When Garcia and Morgan get in have them briefed." JJ looked up at Hotch and nodded as he exited the room

"Yeah sure." She said as he walked out the door, as she stood she noticed Hotch had an open notebook on his desk upon first glance it appeared to be nothing of interest but a word caught her eye and she looked down at it circling the desk, Aaron was keep notes about the Reaper case still. JJ sighed, when would he let it go? She looked up as Rossi cleared his throat in the doorway and startled her.

"Snooping is so unlike you." He said sarcastically, JJ groaned

"Sorry," she said walking towards the door "I'm almost more worried about Hotch than I am Reid." Rossi nodded as they left Hotch's office

"I know what you mean."

-CM-

Spencer lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling, he felt very numb inside and emotionally tired. He was currently hoping his mind hadn't played tricks on him and he'd actually seen George that night, though if Foyet's body turned up in the Michigan Bay he wasn't sure how he'd deal with it.

Elsewhere George was staring up at his ceiling as well, he'd dropped Reid off at the hospital a week or so ago upon finding him convulsing on the floor of his bedroom. He'd tried to bring him out of it but with no luck all he could do was take him to the hospital and leave him there. He felt terrible for leaving him but couldn't reveal himself so soon, he wanted to tell Reid that night he was alive, that he'd somehow escaped and was going to hide now. The real truth was too complicated for him to even try to form into words he'd have to poison his young lover with, he'd watched as Reid came home a few days ago accompanied by Morgan and Prentiss.

Spencer seemed so frail as his friends helped him up the stairs and into the building, Foyet's heart ached for Reid as he looked on helplessly. He groaned as his stitches throbbed at his side. Dry blood cracked as Foyet shifted on the hotel bed and sat up. Hadn't he had left enough behind to show Reid he was alive? At least he hoped that Reid would know that he was… that when he showed himself again his young lover would understand.

Foyet exhaled deeply rubbing the back of his head as he stood and paced slowly around the room, it hurt to walk, to sit, to stand. His side was burning as he walked back and forth; he'd had nothing to do now for the past few days. He had watched Aaron a few times, he could see the senior agent was stressed, he wondered if it was about the close of the Reaper case or not. He had watched Aaron visit his son and his wife Haley, he had watched him sit in his apartment agonizing over file after file and he wondered about him. They were similar in some ways, their obsession with the details of things.

Foyet winced as he sat back down again; he felt his side tingle and warm blood trickle through the bandage he'd applied. Maybe he wasn't as good at healing as he used to be, he remembered it had taken him over twelve weeks to recover from his first stabbings, so he hadn't expected to feel better after only a week and a half, plus traveling right after he'd done the stabbings was nothing more than foolish, he'd taken a short flight and switched over to a bus to get the rest of the way to Virginia. Mainly because the flying was exasperating his wound further.

George sighed as he lay back on the bed, he wanted desperately to see Spencer… but he knew… he had to wait.


	12. Everything Changes

"You're safe with me… I'll keep you safe." Reid woke up with a start, the wind howled outside and the snow blew violently in circles towards the ground then back up to the sky. Snowflakes flying like spastic dancers in the air. Reid rubbed his face in his palms and tried to hold back his tears. George's voice haunted him; he was alone in his apartment. Garcia had told him the team had a case and they were leaving for Indiana… that was three days ago… in some ways it was a relief that they were all gone. No one would unexpectedly show up.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

Reid jumped at the noise; he clutched a pillow in his arms as he stood to investigate. He heard the creak of a door and realised what the noise had been… all three of his locks being opened on his front door. Reid's eyes widened as he slowly inched backwards, he slid open his top dresser drawer silently and pulled out his gun. Ever so gently he put the pillow down on the floor and peered around the corner. He could see a shadow moving in the living room, the white light of the moon against a black snow filled sky shone down through the windows. Slowly Reid moved down the hallway and the shadowy figure moved away from the light. Reid breathed in a silent breath as he inched towards the kitchen, he stood in the darkness looking out at the room but saw nothing.

Reid gasped as his gun barrel was grabbed and the weapon tossed across the room, he struggled against the intruder who pinned him to the floor and held him there. Reid's eyes moved wildly over the dark face staring back at him, he kicked his legs but the intruder sat on his chest and pinned his arms to the ground.

"Shh!" came a sharp noise that escaped the stranger's lips as they placed a hand over Reid's mouth.

Reid breathed shallow breaths through his nose as he stared up at the stranger who had somehow broken into his home. Slowly the strange man removed his hand from Spencer's mouth and stood, Reid scrambled backwards against the dining room table.

"Who are you?" he stammered "What do you want?" he looked around for his gun but couldn't see where it had landed, the figure moved over to the couch and sat down slowly groaning as he did so. They hung their head as they sat.

"I'm sorry." The figure said in a whisper, Reid was unsure as to why this intruder was apologizing to him, suddenly the light next to the couch was flicked on and Reid's mouth dropped. Sitting in front of him was George, he had shaved his head and was wearing a dark sweater, his eyes were red and his hands were shaking. There was blood on the side of his jeans, Reid crawled to his feet but was back on his knees in a moment as he raced towards Foyet. Holding his lovers hands in his own, his eyes moving over the battered man's face, Reid felt his mouth quiver as he moved to touch Foyet's face who stared back at Spencer with painful auburn eyes.

"You're alive…" Spencer breathed between astonished breaths, George nodded but it looked as if he were shaking more so than anything as he took Reid's hand in his own, they were cold as ice. Reid's eyes traveled from Foyet's face down to his hands then his side once again to notice the blood on his pants.

"What happened?" Reid demanded a large tear rolled down his check as he pulled up on George's sweater, Foyet winced as Reid revealed a blood soaked undershirt, slowly he peeled the cloth from the older man's skin to reveal two stab wounds that had been messily stitched closed.

"Oh my god." Reid had seen some horrible things in his life but on someone he loved, it was heart rendering and stomach churning to experience.

"We have to go to a hospital." Foyet moved Reid's hand from his side and shook his head

"No hospitals." He said trying to stand, the struggle had exasperated his wounds that much more, they had not been healing well and Foyet hadn't had a steady enough hand to sew his own wounds shut anymore. Reid looked around then raced over to the kitchen. He wet a wash cloth and came back to Foyet's side.

"We have to fix this." he said, worry evident in his voice. Foyet nodded, he was beginning to feel quite dizzy. Reid pulled Foyet up to his feet wrapping his arm around his shoulder as he directed him to the bathroom. He sat George down on the closed toilet and flicked on the light.

"Take off your shirt; I'll have to cauterize the wound." Foyet looked up at Reid

"Are you fucking with me?" he asked, Reid put both hands on Foyet's shoulders

"Look if you're not going to let me take you to the hospital now then I have to do this." Foyet exhaled and began to pull off his shirt, Reid went over to the kitchen and grabbed a metal spatula he cleaned it in the sink and clicked on his stove the blue flame rose up within a moment from under the burner. Spencer turned the knob high and set the spatula down atop the flame. He grabbed a wooden spoon from a drawer and raced back to the bathroom. George had finally taken off his sweater; Reid helped him extract his arms from his under shirt. He grimaced at the sight of the bloody tissue. Quickly he opened the cupboard under his sink and took out the first aid kit, he handed Foyet the spoon as he pulled out a small pair of scissors. Foyet bit down hard as Reid tried to painlessly cut and extract the messy stitches. When they were finally out and he had cleaned away as much of the blood as possible he returned to the kitchen and flicked off the burner, the orange flame evaporated from the metal, Reid grabbed a cloth and held the handle of the spatula and headed back towards the bathroom. Foyet had one hand on the wall and another on the counter.

Reid looked down at him holding the scalding metal spatula in one hand.

"Ready?" he asked, more afraid than ever. Foyet took a few quick breaths and stiffly nodded, clenching the spoon in his teeth as Reid knelt next to him, Reid could feel sweat forming on the back of his neck as he put on hand on Foyet's side and in an instant pressed the hot metal to George's wounded body.

Foyet groaned a muffled scream from between closed lips as Reid removed the metal and pressed it down again, it was working the metal was burning the wounds shut. Within seconds it was over and Reid tossed the utensil into the sink and turned on the tap. The metal hissed as the water extinguished the heat, scored flesh and browned blood circled down the drain. Reid already had gauze taken out of the first aid kit and was wrapping it round Foyet. Who had let the spoon drop to the floor, his head beaded with sweat that slid down his forehead and off his nose. Reid lightly tapped the side of George's face, as he noticed the older man's eyes fluttering.

"Stay awake." He insisted as he finished wrapping the wound and pulled George to his feet, moving him slowly towards the bedroom. George sat down hard with Reid and they both fell back on the bed.

For a moment they just lay there, both breathing heavily not even being able to comprehend what had just happened. Reid turned his head to meet eyes with George who turned at the same time. They gazed at each other a moment, Foyet sweating from the pain and Reid from the shock of it all. Slowly Reid inched forward and kissed George lightly on the mouth, it was almost foreign to the both of them.

"I still have to take you to the hospital you know." George groaned, he knew it was true. Spencer slowly sat up on the edge of the bed. George breathed heavily as he also sat with much effort.

"Fine but we go to the county hospital then." Reid sighed

"Alright but you are going to tell me what happened right?" George turned his head to look at Reid, who was clearly shaken but looked unimpressed at the same time. It was a strange expression he couldn't read.

"Yeah we'll talk…" he said looking back at the ceiling. Reid exhaled deeply

"Ok I'll go get the car started."

-CM-

"This tissue is completely destroyed." The doctor said poking at George's side

"I don't care just… fix it please." George answered rather irritated

"Mr. Baskin how did you sustain these wounds?" Reid and Foyet exchanged a look

"In a bar fight." George replied, the doctor sighed knowing he wasn't going to get the real answer

"Alright I'll have a nurse bring you something for the pain and we'll get you sewn up." Foyet nodded as he pulled back the hospital gown, Reid half grinned. He was glad Foyet was alive, but perplexed as to how he had lived. Had he escaped the Reaper? No one had shown Spencer the files from the supposed murder so he couldn't confirm anything without doing his research… but he was definitely suspicious, more so now than he had been before.

Foyet had also used a fake name when they arrived, which Reid had to wonder about... if the Reaper was dead why was he still concealing his identity?

"He dropped me in the bay." Reid looked up; George had his back turned to him as he sat on the hospital bed.

"I was still alive… when it happened." Reid got up and came around the bed to look George in the eyes, they deviated from his and Reid felt immediately the story was being fabricated.

"Really…" Reid answered unconvincingly; Foyet heard it in his voice and looked up with hooded eyes.

"You don't believe me?" he asked, they stared at each other not blinking

"No I don't." was Reid's answer he stood and walked back to the chair on the opposite side of the room as a nurse came in, she gave George a prescription and stuck him in the back with a needle full of morphine.

"The doctor will be in to stitch you up in a moment." She said, she turned to Reid

"You can wait outside if you like." She smiled at him which didn't go unnoticed by Foyet. Reid smiled back

"No thanks I'll stay here." She frowned rather childishly and walked out of the room. Reid watched her as she left, Foyet sighed inwardly as he turned and stared out the window. The wind was still blowing snow around. The snow itself was falling in tiny flakes now.

"I'm sorry…" George said quietly, Reid's eyes went from the open door back to Foyet as he listened the older man closed his eyes and exhaled

"For everything." He finished turning to meet Reid's perplexed expression which soon changed to one of realization, within an instant he looked down at the floor biting his bottom lip, and Foyet turned away once more.

-CM-

In the next hour Foyet was assessed and stitched up, the doctor confirmed there was no internal bleeding and no organs had been damaged by the stab wounds, they weren't as deep as they had thought just very badly taken care of. He gave strict instructions as to how the wounds were to be handled and cared for before allowing the two to leave, there were plenty of babies to deliver, gunshot wounds to delve in and bar fight brawlers to attend to that evening so the doctor left in quite a hurry.

Reid didn't say anything as he drove carefully back to the apartment, George's eyes were scanning the road as they drove, snow and asphalt beneath the tires…

"Why did you lie to me?" George turned at Reid's words, the sound of the wind whistled around the car as they drove

"Honestly I don't know." Was his answer, which was not good enough for Spencer.

Reid slowed as they came to a red light.

"You're him aren't you? You are the Reaper." George pretended not to understand for a moment as he looked at Reid who was still staring out at the road.

"Well… Would that change things?" he asked, Reid opened his mouth to speak but no words came out, he just shook his head lips pressed together tightly as he started to drive again.

"Were you even going to tell me?" Foyet sighed looking out the window again

"I dunno Spencer, should I have? Would that change how you felt? How you feel now?" Reid didn't answer as they pulled up to the apartment, he got out and rounded to George's side and opened the door, they walked silently up the stairs and into the building all the way up to the third floor. Three locks opened and counted and inside the apartment once more.

Reid turned to Foyet

"It changes me… it changes everything." he said, George found it hard to look into Reid's eyes.

"I don't know what to think right now…" Spencer said softly as he walked into the living room, he picked his gun up off the floor and held it in his hands. Rubbing the barrel with his thumb as he stared at it. George watched him as he paced with the gun in his hands.

"So what now?" Foyet asked awaiting an answer. Reid looked up at him

"Honestly..?" he said "I have no idea…"


	13. An Untimely Manner

George walked up to Reid and took his hand in his own, holding the gun to his chest

"So do it." He said sternly Reid looked at him strangely and moved his hand away

"Don't do that." He said annoyed as he turned away, George circled around him

"Well what then Spencer? You're not just gonna let me go are you?" Reid paced in the other direction but George cut him off again waiting for any answer the young man had to give him.

"I didn't lie to you about how I feel." Foyet said, Reid stopped and looked over at him

"I love you." Foyet exclaimed, raising his hands in defeat as he turned. Reid held his gun in his hand and stared at it

"I would never do anything to hurt you." Foyet said with conviction sitting down on one of the dining room chairs. Reid put his gun down on the table and sat across from Foyet.

"I can't believe that." He said crossing his arms and leaning on the table. Foyet looked up at him with sad eyes

"Why? Because I killed people?" Spencer turned his head to the side "You kill people all the time."

Reid groaned

"That's different." George sat up straight

"How? Because you have a badge? How is it different?" Reid stood up sighing as he walked into the kitchen getting a glass from the cupboard

"Don't be stupid George you know how it's different." Foyet rolled his eyes; it was true he just didn't want to accept it

"Ok fine it's different so what." Reid put down the glass as he finished drinking back some water

"So you're sick… or something." Foyet turned resting his arms on the back of the chair

"Oh I'm sick." He said with a sceptical laugh Reid was the one to roll his eyes then

"Whatever it is, you and all the others out there it's a sickness." He stated trying to make his words make sense, Foyet stood and walked slowly towards Reid

"Really?" he said, Reid began to back away as Foyet stepped towards him he backed into his fridge and stopped, Foyet stood inches from his face

"You must be sick too then." He said, Reid stared at him quizzically

"Because I put my sickness in you… and you loved it." Reid pushed Foyet away from him but not far enough as George grabbed hold of Reid's wrists

"Oh now you wanna fight." He said mockingly and with distain as he pushed Reid back into the fridge. Spencer stared up into George's eyes, he didn't seem out of control but he was upset and it was apparent by the way he held Reid in place.

"No… I don't want to fight." Reid said, Foyet gingerly raised his head as he stared into Reid's eyes.

"Then what do you want?" he said in barely a whisper as he inched closer, holding Reid in place. Spencer could smell blood and sandalwood, it was an intoxicating smell. His eyes fluttered as he took it in, parting his lips to speak but no words came. Instead he leaned forward and kissed Foyet hard on the mouth, still pressed against the refrigerator arms on either side of his head pinned at the wrist by Foyet who moved into the kiss within moments. He released Spencer's wrists and grabbed the back of the young man's head as Reid wrapped his arms around him, they moved in furious passion against each other before parting to stare at each other.

Eyes scanning eyes, Reid was hollow inside and he felt broken. Foyet longed for this, the taste of Reid's innocence on his tongue, knowing full well the agent wanted to take him in and reveal him to the world as the killer sought by more than his team but by all of Boston. Somehow all of that got lost as their lips crushed together again and their hands moved over each other's bodies with impatient and frenzied lust. Foyet winced and moaned into Reid's mouth as the young man put his hands underneath his shirt, trailing up the gauze and pulling the sweater up and over Foyet's head, who tossed it to the floor and resumed the passionate lock between them.

Reid groaned as George moved a hand between his legs, everything was happening so fast. Within a second Foyet had undone Reid's belt and zipper and was pawing beneath his pants and boxers. Reid gasped and their lips parted, Foyet immediately began kissing down his young lovers neck pulling up on his shirt with his free hand, Reid tugged it off and threw it to the floor, the coolness of the fridge made him shiver as Foyet pushed him back against it trailing kisses down Reid's torso. Reid moaned loudly he'd become hard in George's callused hand, the sensation was overpowering.

"We shouldn't…" Reid gasped between breaths putting his hands on the older man's shoulders, he felt Foyet grin against his stomach

"You started this." he said looking up at Spencer, Reid didn't have a chance to protest as Foyet stuck out his tongue and licked the end of his cock that was already glistening with pre come.

"F… uck." Reid groaned, the sound of his young lover cursing only fed Foyet that much more as he wrapped his mouth around Reid's hot shaft. Instantly Spencer's knees buckled and Foyet put a hand up to hold Reid in place against the fridge as he moved. The erotic noises escaping his lips sounded foreign and bizarre in Spencer's ears but they were like music to George who continued to pleasure Reid and carry him incredibly close to release. Reid gripped the back of George's head and hummed as he felt himself becoming close. And at that exact moment Foyet pulled his mouth away.

Reid made the whiniest noise as George stood slowly, it made Foyet grin as he kissed Spencer pushing his tongue between his lips allowing his young lover to taste himself a salty sweetness.

Foyet placed his hand on Reid's and guided it between his legs.

"Touch yourself." He said biting Reid's neck gently, who obliged the command and began moving his hand over his wet cock in a rhythmic motion. Reid moaned his head up and eyes closed, Foyet stood and watched him with parted lips, he had also become hard beneath his clothes and the sight before him was tantalizing. He placed his own hand over Reid's and they moved together, Foyet licked the side of Spencer's face as he jerked him harder and closer towards release, then forced the young man to slow his pace in an erotic show of his control.

Reid pressed himself against Foyet, grinding against his pants as he opened his eyes. Full red lips and a rose hued tongue between them, eyes like melted chocolate and the enticing scent of his lovers sweat filled George; he instinctually lifted Reid off the ground and carried him with legs wrapped around his waist to the bedroom. Reid collapsed backwards on the cool blanket and arched his back as Foyet stripped him of his pants, swiftly undoing his own and tossing them to the floor as he climbed on top of Spencer and kissed him hard and fast.

Reid gasped as he felt George's hand trailed down his body and moved up between his legs, pressing his fingers into his tight hole. He groaned at the initial sensation and breathed shallow breaths as Foyet pressed in further. Reid let out a long sigh as George withdrew his fingers then proceeded to enter him again. When he was satisfied he removed his digits, licking his hand as he stroked his own throbbing manhood. Reid breathed tiny breaths as George guided himself and pressed into him. Spencer groaned loudly as Foyet entered him and slowly allowed himself to slide further and further inside his young lover.

"God you're so tight." He groaned as he gradually withdrew and pushed forward again gently. Reid wrapped his legs around George's body, Foyet could feel himself bleeding beneath the gauze that was wrapped around him but he didn't care, the sight of Spencer lying beneath him eyes staring up expectedly and full of lust was not something he was going to stop for, not even for a few torn stitches. Reid gasped as Foyet pushed into him hard and began to move in and out at continuous pace, they moved together as Reid pulled Foyet in further with his legs and George quickened his pace.

Both men groaned and panted, their body's slick with sweat as George rocked back and forth. Reid gasped loudly and cried out as he felt himself closing in to climax he lifted his head as George continued to penetrate him. In moments they found themselves both reaching release. Foyet moaned at the feeling of Reid's hot come against his groin, and his own climax deep inside his younger lover.

Foyet pulled out gently and sat down next to Reid, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. Spencer laid there prone and nude all except two mismatched socks, which was all too familiar. He caught his breath a moment before sitting up slowly. He rested his head on George's shoulder who kissed him softly on the top of the head.

"I love you Dr. Reid." he said quietly, resting his own head against Spencer's who felt tears welling up within him

"I love you too… Foyet."


End file.
